Pat Stevens/
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that it will henceforth process all admissions to distance learning, part-time, outreach, sandwich and other various programmes in all higher institutions across the country.
It has directed universities and other tertiary institutions in Nigeria to stop selling admission forms into all such programmes with immediate effect.
The Board, in its weekly bulletin, stated that it “would no longer condone any illegal/ irregular admission by any institution”.
JAMB’s Head of Media and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in the bulletin released yesterday, said the cessation of the ”illegal admissions” was contained in an advisory issued by the Board.
The advisory further made it clear that the new position taken by the Board was informed by the quantum of applications received for candidates pursuing illegal admissions popularly known by candidates as ‘Regularisation’.
He said such ignoble acts would no longer be tolerated by the Board.
The bulletin further reiterated that all applications for admissions to First Degree, National Diploma, National Innovation Diploma and the Nigeria Certificate in Education into Full-Time, Distance Learning, Part-Time, Outreach, Sandwich, etc., must be processed only through JAMB.
The board urged institutions that are still involved in advertising or selling “application forms” for admissions into the programmes listed above were advised to desist forthwith.
The bulletin further reads, “The advisory, therefore, enjoined institutions to advise their candidates to apply to them through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), adding that the duplication of application forms is also not allowed.
“On the other hand, candidates are to ensure that any admission issued to them by any institution is routed through the Board even before considering to accept such offers.
“The advisory stated that the Board would not succumb to pressure from any quarter to clear any candidate for the NYSC or other essential needs if he/she had accepted any admission from any institution which did not follow laid-down regulations as emphasized above.
“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the three Regulatory Agencies: (National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) will ensure that all Tertiary Institutions comply with this policy directive.
“Other Professional Regulatory Agencies are also expected to play critical roles in sanitising the process. In the same vein, the Board restated the need to streamline academic standards and maintained that the duration of all non-full-time studies must be maintained as approved by the Regulatory Agencies.”
This, according to Benjamin, is generally not less than one hundred and fifty per cent (150%) of the equivalence of full time.
“Institutions which desire to place an advertisement to source for candidates can do so but they have to advise potential candidates, beginning from those who sat the current UTME (or DE candidates), to change to or pick these institutions as First (1st) Choice rather than the tortuous route of requesting candidates to purchase another application form,” Benjamin added, noting that this would prevent the issue of double registration”
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