Nigeria Universities Updates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Thursday fixed 180 and 160 as cut-off points for admissions into Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education respectively for the 2011/2012 session.

The decision was arrived at after the second combined Policy Meeting of the examination body with stakeholders, in Abuja.

Earlier, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, said the Federal Government would no longer tolerate “random admissions” and the late submission of list of admitted candidates into the universities.

Rufa’i handed down the warning while declaring the policy meeting open.

She expressed regret the avoidable hitches which the 2010 admission procedures as a result of this unwholesome practice by some institutions.

She appealed to all the institutions to adhere strictly to admission guidelines so as to maintain a healthy academic calendar.

She said, “I wish to remind all institutions on the adherence to admissions time-table as prepared by the JAMB.

“Last year, this was seriously abused as many institutions were still making submissions to the board up to May 2011.

“May I remind all institutions to follow the guidelines with regard to issues like the criteria of merit, quota, educationally less developed states, catchment area and the 60:40 science/arts ratio.

“To this end, the decisions you take and the discretion you exercise in the course of this meeting will be critical as these will go a long way in the realization of our nation’s aspirations and the current administration’s goal of delivery on the social contract as well as being among the top twenty economies in the world by the year 20: 2020.”

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This is to bring to the attention of all prospective candidates for admission, the general public and 2011/2012 UTME candidates in particular, that the Senate of the University of Lagos has approved the commencement of the underlisted programmes with effect from the 2011/2012 Academic Year. The National Universities Commission has also given consent for the commencement of the programmes in the College and Faculties.

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE:

(1) B.Sc. (Hons) Nursing and (2) B.Sc. (Hons) Medical Laboratory Technology

FACULTY OF SCIENCE:

(1) B.Sc. (Hons) Geo-physics (2) B.Sc. (Hons) Geology (3) B.Sc. (Hons) Fisheries

FACULTY OF EDUCATION: (1) B.Sc. (B.Ed.) Early Childhood

Applications are hereby invited from suitably qualified candidates who made University of Lagos their first choice and scored 200 and above for the programmes as stated.

Interested candidates should apply directly to the University of Lagos by completing the form on the University of Lagos website: www.unilag.edu.ng.

A copy of the completed form with photocopies of candidate’s UTME result slip and ‘O’ level result should be submitted on or before August 15, 2011 to the Admissions Office, Room 174, 1st Floor Senate House, University of Lagos.

For the entry requirements for the programmes click here

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The University of Lagos Post-UTME Screening Exercise for Admission into ALL COURSES/PROGRAMMES for the 2011/2012 Academic Year will commence on August 18 and end on August 31, 2011.

The sale of revision questions and registration for Post-UTME will start on Wednesday, July 13, 2011. Candidates are to make payment to any branch of

BANK A/c No.
ECOBANK 1962000108
FIRST BANK 5242040000073
INTERCONTINENTAL 5000205409
UBA 1002772627
UNION 0381040000644
WEMA BANK 1015416518
for the collection of the revision questions at the banks.

Cost Implication:

Revision Questions – N1,000.00 (optional)

Post-UTME Registration – N1,000.00

Candidates are requested to submit a copy of their JAMB e-registration slip at the bank of purchase.

Post-UTME E-Registration Slip:

Printing of e-registration slip for the screening exercise will commence on 5th August, 2011.

ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES:

All candidates who scored 200 and above and have made UNILAG their FIRST CHOICE Institution, in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) are eligible for the screening. In addition, the candidates must possess five (5) credit passes in relevant O’level subjects including Mathematics and English Language at ONE sitting. (Candidates awaiting results are also eligible). Candidates, who will not be sixteen (16) years of age by October 1, 2011 are not eligible.

Detailed information will be released later.

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The newly appointed minister of state for education, Kenneth Gbagi, has called for the deregulation of the university sector so that schools can single-handedly raise funds for their projects.

Mr. Gbagi made this call on Monday in Abuja when the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Julius Okojie, paid him a visit. He said that the move was necessary because government’s resources are inadequate to cover the high cost needed to run Nigerian universities every year.

Meaningful education

“We must as a country start, the same way we deregulated the petroleum sector, to deregulate the university sector,” said Mr. Gbagi. “I will support anything in that direction because the burden of government in the education sector is one that is extremely very heavy.”

Though he admitted it would mean an increase in tuition fees, he said that many Nigerian families were already paying large amounts to send their children abroad.

“It will interest you to know that a great proportion of our resources today is paid to African countries. In Ghana, our students pay close to $5,000 and $7,000 to gain university education,” he said. “If we take all these children to Ghana, America, and England and pay fees, we should be ready to pay minimum fees for our students in Nigeria. If you must go to school, you must be able to pay a price.”

He, therefore, urged the commission’s executive secretary to work out a ten-year plan on how to gradually reduce the government’s involvement in running the university system.

Illegal degrees

The new minister also talked about the growing number of illegal degree-awarding institutions in the country. He charged the NUC to be more proactive in tackling the menace. Mr. Gbagi said the 60 days of grace currently given to such institutions is out of place and ordered the immediate closure of illegal universities when identified.

“As NUC publishes the list of genuine higher institutions, it should also set up a monitoring team to discover and get reports of such institutions. Government will do everything within its power to ensure that these illegal institutions are dealt with very quickly,” he said.

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