UTME Exam In Nigeria: To What End And To Whose Benefit? -By Segun Ogunlade

I have had pondered on this question several times between 2013 and 2015. Between those years, I wrote UTME three times and post UTME three times too. In 2013 and 2014, I applied to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to study law. The first year I had 226 in UTME and 240 in post UTME. My aggregate was 233 after adding the scores from the two exam together before dividing it by two and the school cut off mark for law that year was 259 or thereabouts. I couldn’t get in. In 2014, I reapplied to the same university to study the same course. I had 218 in UTME and 300 in post-UTME. By scoring 300, it means I scored 75 out of 100 for each question in OAU’s post-UTME carries 4 marks. That year, only 90 applicants had 300 and above the highest being 332. My aggregate was 259 and the cut off mark was 289. Because I put my state of origin as Ondo, the cut off mark was 290. For Lagos it was about 288 or so. Again, I couldn’t make it to law. I was expecting I would be compensated with a course such as English studies or other Arts and Humanities related courses for scoring so high in the post-UTME. But that were not so. I missed admission even after scoring well in two prerequisite examinations.

Then 2015 came. I applied for UTME again, this time the application fee going up to over 6000 naira. Just that this time I applied to University of Ibadan, Ibadan, to study Law. It’s the UTME I had had the least preparation for. But when the results were out, I had 250. I applied for the post-UTME that was written in September of the same year. I scored 69 out of 100. I had thought UI would be like OAU in multiplying my post-UTME score by four to make 276, add it to the 250 I had in UTME and come up with an aggregate of 263. But that was not so. UI only used the 69 I scored to grade my admission process. The 69 I had in post-UTME wasn’t enough to give me law for I was 5 marks beyond the cut-off mark of 74. But I was able to get Religious Studies which even though I resented at first, I have come to appreciate.

If it were to be in OAU, I would have had an aggregate of 263. That surely wouldn’t have given me law and I am not sure it would have gotten me another course either following my experience with that University. Now, I am not condemning the admission process of OAU or lauding that of UI which I would not be condemned for anyway. I am simply looking at the dynamics of university admission in Nigeria where you had to take two different exams before you could get in as if the organizers of one did not the trust the other. And I am also wondering why one university would place premium on UTME result and another around the same locale would not; and how bizarre it would sound anywhere if it was said that 69 out of 100 got me admission into the nation’s number one university and 300 out of 400 could not in another university in the same country. And if I had failed to score above 50 in UI’s post-UTME, my 250 in UTME would have completely be useless. This is so with many universities.

So after I got to UI, I began to think about the necessity of UTME. If I only needed to score 250 in UTME and it wasn’t used in by the University of Ibadan but rather settled for my meagre score of 69, I only had a thought – UTME should be scrapped. The logic is simple. Nigerian universities don’t trust UTME. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been anything like post-UTME.

Post-UTME are conducted to cover up for the inadequacies such as gross examination malpractice that often greeted UTME. Examinations by the school, although conducted amidst strict supervision to forestall malpractices, is for me not the best way to determine who gets into the university and who does not. Examination is not the best way of testing one’s knowledge, surely not a multiple choice examination where guessing is what a good number of students too. Some might argue that if you know something you should be able to prove so through examination, I believe an oral interview with the applicants that has successfully scaled JAMB’s cut off marks should be introduced. It would be like applying for a job wherein the better you are at convincing your prospective employers, the better your chances of being employed. An interview with either the Dean of the faculty or a board of interviewers set up by each department would conduct the entrance interview for applicants. Even if it’s a month long process, so far it is geared towards getting the best is students into our university, it is worth trying. After all, cries of Nigerian universities producing bad and unemployable graduates are what we often hear as reasons while many graduates are sitting home without jobs. But I seriously doubt if the universities would take this option. One, UTME is not what it used to be in terms of quality and the universities had to guard against a student that scored high through examination malpractices from getting an easy admission into the university without first proving him. Second, as the UTME is a huge revenue generating venture for both JAMB and the Federal Government, so is post-UTME for the universities. In these days of poor education funds coming from government, conducting an entrance by the universities is a good way to make more to cover up for some deficit resulting from government funding. This is truly not how it should be, but some forces around here usually forces one’s hand into doing some things that fell short of standards somewhere else. For example, in some universities in India, students could get in to the university of they’re good at sports and couldn’t do so well in the entrance examination conducted by the school. There’s only one examination before admission, the one conducted by the school itself and proficiency in a sport like say basketball. If you fail one, you could get in through the other. But you’re not made to go through the trauma of preparing for examinations and paying so much to get into universities that are poorly funded by the government for reasons best known to them. The only reason I believe there’s still a board known as JAMB and an examination known as UTME is because of the millions it generates for the government. Otherwise, the examination has failed its purpose for were it not, there would not have been an examination known as post-UTME which is another revenue generating venture but has proven somehow more effective in getting good students into the universities and other tertiary institutions such as polytechnics. UTME is no longer relevant in the context of university admission if there’s another examination to cover up for its inadequacies.

Even more worrisome issues apart from the UTME losing its relevance in the admission process is how the board in charge of the examination set he cut off marks afterwards. Saying the UTME is over 400 is like repeating that which is already known. But the most mind boggling of all things done by JAMB is how it fixes the cut off marks for students. While some universities would not consider a candidate with a score below 200 for its post-UTME, JAMB fixes the cut off mark at 180 for university admission and even lesser for admission into polytechnics and colleges of education. This is ridiculous. Saying a student could get admission into a an institution higher learning by scoring below half in the qualification examination is a way that breeds mediocrity. The value of education should not be lowered so as to accommodate many. That’s not how to encourage excellence. Setting the cut off mark at 200 would be great and 250 would even be better for by that the students would have to study hard for the examination and prepare to score more because being at the base of cut off marks sometimes is dangerous.

Yet, more needs to be done in Nigeria’s education sector. One of such is ensuring each secondary school has at least one counsellor that is familiar with Nigerian universities terrain and could advise graduating students on which university to apply to based on the students personalities and aspects of extracurricular activities they’re good at. By counseling, a student would know which university he could go to based on his type of person and how such universities could support his extracurricular activities such as in the areas of sports. For example, while many of South West’s universities are usually academic based with little support in the area of sports, schools in South South value students who are good in sports and they support them. A student that is a good swimmer or a long distance runner would not be appreciated in a school like University of Ibadan as he or she would be celebrated in University of Calabar or University of Port-Harcourt. These are some of the basics a student should know before admission. Many students are in the university where in fact they should be in a technical school where their talents would be further enhanced and developed. Polytechnics should not be looked down on as if only the educationally unlucky students go there out of frustration.

Like I have said earlier, UTME should be scrapped. And if it would not, it should not be written more than once. Inasmuch as WAEC or NECO examinations are not being seated for each year a student applies for UTME, he should not be subjected to writing UTME each year he tries getting the into either the university or the polytechnic. If WAEC and NECO results could be held to be true in all weather, a single UTME result should be hold in such esteem too unless the students fail to score beyond the cut off mark set by JAMB and would have to sit for it again. This means JAMB should have a permanent cut off mark that would qualify students for post-UTME wherever he chooses just as credit in English language and Mathematics and three other related courses to one’s chosen line of study is the ideal standard for most university (though I would that the three other credits should include a local language). Instead of paying for UTME every year, a student should rather write it once and set his further battles against the school of his choice.

Most importantly, educational curriculum in Nigeria should be completely overhauled to reflect modern days realities. This should be from elementary school to the university and polytechnic level. Most of the curriculum that are in operation are no longer extant in advanced country. Learning now is tilted towards human problems and not just for the sake of being called an educated fellow. Education should be all round from academics to advancement of extracurricular activities and entrepreneurial skills. Computers should be made available to schools to aid learning in this age that is based on technology and science. Of course, lack of all this is showing in how our universities are ranked in the world. The best university in Nigeria is not in the list of top 800 universities in the world where some nations celebrate having as many as two in the top 10. This isn’t magical. It takes conscious effort from the government of such counties and stakeholders to improve the quality of education and make it the best that there is. Thus, more funding needs to go into education in Nigeria. Without good education, moving a country forward would be cumbersome if not impossible.

But as it is now, UTME gas failed in its purpose of helping the tertiary institutions get the best of Nigerian students. This is so because no matter how high you score in the UTME, if you fail the post-UTME of your choice school, that’s the end of the road. You have to come back another year to try again.

The board in charge of the UTME gain more than those the examination is intended for because each year, they recorded high turnover for the government (if the revenue is not swallowed by snake). The students don’t gain anything you passing UTME but failing post-UTME. But JAMB gains because the students would have to buy another form which price increases year by year.

Segun Ogunlade writes from University of Ibadan, Ibadan. He is a final year student of the department of Religious Studies. He could be reached via email at ogunlade02@gmail.com or his phone number +2348085851773.