JAMB: Universities must explain why qualified candidates don’t get admission

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said universities must follow due process in conducting their admission screening.

The examination body on Friday noted that admissions for the 2016 academic year will not be done arbitrarily.

Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar said this in Abuja during the extra ordinary technical committee meeting on 2016 admissions.

He said: “We will not accept whatever is done arbitrarily. I hope those that are here will make adjustments. They must be able to explain why somebody with a high score was not given admissions.

“What we are saying is that people should follow due process. Universities have the right to have criteria for admission but the criteria must be reasonable; the criteria must be explicit.

“I therefore re-state my earlier submission that the Senate and academic boards of the institutions have the primary responsibility of recommending candidates to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for admissions.”

“What we said was that some of the recommendations the institutions brought earlier were not explicit in terms of criteria, and we have ásked our colleagues in the universities to send better criteria.

“I have a particular school where the person who scored the highest was not taken and the reason was because the university changed its rules. That will not be accepted.

“You cannot change the rules when the game is on. You have to wait till 2017 to publish the new rules. You cannot have a particular rule and change to another.

“Where things are not done properly, we will not be only doing what is right but we will be seen by reasonable people, that we have done what is right.”