From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has directed institutions to independently decide on cut-off mark for the sake of admission for 2021/2022 academic  calendar.
This was, perhaps, due to inability of the institutions to arrive at a particular figure, as was the case some years ago where, by voice vote, the institutions arrive at a particular figure as cut-off mark for admission.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said the decision was taken at the 2021 Policy Meeting to herald the commencement of 2021 admission exercises, with October 29, as deadline for the closure of amendments for 2021 admissions.
The meeting had impressive participation of heads of tertiary institutions who often participate in the meeting to discuss admission related issues.
Speaking during the meeting, Prof. Oloyede disclosed that some universities such as University of Maiduguri proposed 150, Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto proposed 140, Pan Atlantic University proposed 210, University of Lagos 200, Lagos State University190, Covenant University190, Bayero University Kano, 180.
He said the stakeholders resolved to allow the ministry to decide as they could not agree on the December 31st, 2021 deadline for public institutions and January 31st, 2022, for private institutions.
Prof. Oloyede said the stakeholders also adopted the 2021 admission guidelines, which provide that all applications for part-time or full-time programmes fo degree, NCE, OND, and others must be posted only through JAMB.
He insisted that candidate’s credentials must be uploaded on Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) and recommended by the institution, while JAMB approves and the candidate accepts the offer of admission.
He said:  “If any candidate fail to accept an offer, the institution is at liberty to change the candidate after informing JAMB.”
He said the meeting also approved the guidelines that every institution is at liberty to admit candidates based on own minimum score approved by the institution and the policy meeting.
Prof. Oloyede further disclosed that for 2021/2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the board is introducing two new subjects; computer studies, and physical and health education, bringing to a total of 25 subjects.
The stakeholders also exempted prison inmates, visually impaired and foreign candidates from sitting for post-UTME exercise.
Speaking on the 2020 admissions, Oloyede said out of the 956,809 admission spaces in the 962 higher education institutions in the country, about 600,000 have so far been admitted.
While saying there are many admission spaces that have not been filled up in several courses due to lack of qualified candidates, Oloyede said private universities in the country were only able to admit 36,381 candidates out of the 120,938 spaces available to them.
Declaring the policy meeting open, Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, commended JAMB for introducing use of National Identification Number (NIN) in the registration process for UTME.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, the Minister said the use of NIN drastically reduced examination malpractices in the 2021 UTME, adding that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) will also follow similar path by adopting mandatory use of NIN.
The Minister expressed concerns that the government’s directive that all admissions should be done through JAMB’s CAPS is being violated.
He directed JAMB to furnish government with the list of affected institutions for necessary punishments.