National Universities Commission (NUC), says it is
pushing for JAMB to allow it conduct post University Matriculation
Examination (UME) interviews for successful candidates.
NUC Executive Secretary, Peter Okebukola, announced the
move in Abuja, at a ``Re-assessment Coordination Workshop on Student
Carrying capacity for Nigerian Universities''.
He said that the need to conduct such interviews had
become apparent because of observations that Nigerian universities keep
producing graduates of low quality.
Okebukola who said that the interview would act as a
``second filter'', explained that frequent cheating recorded during UMEs had
put a question mark on its credibility.
He said that a situation where undergraduates sit for UME
for others seeking university admission, or where parents pay examiners to
smoothen examination process for their wards, had made UME unreliable.
Okebukola, recalled that in the last UME, a centre was
known to have allowed some candidates to start the examination before
others, because their parents had paid some examiners ahead of time.
While other candidates who had a delayed start were asked
to submit their papers before their time lapsed, those whose parents had
paid up front where given more time to complete their answer scripts.
Okebukola, said there was serious need to address the
developments for the sake of an improved manpower industry which would
suffer a great deal, if the trend was allowed to continue.
Apart from the cheating, Okebukola said that anybody,
including a baby, could shed UME exam scripts and score high marks, through
trial and error.
According to him, high scores in UME would not mean that
a candidate was brilliant enough to have a space in a university of choice.
To ensure that quality candidates gain entry into
universities, Okebukola said there was need to expose them to oral and
written tests after passing UME.
He said that such approach would create an opportunity
for a candidate that had passed UME to express his/her intellectual quality
in practical terms and convincingly too, to merit admission into a
university.
On the feelings of JAMB concerning the proposal,
Okebukola said that the board was resisting the move, which is aimed at
avoiding the continued ``rubbishing'' of Nigerian graduates.
He said that JAMB was smiling to the banks due to funds raised through
its operations, as against supporting a practice which would improve the
quality of university graduates
