Universities are allowed to go higher than the 180 Cut off mark- JAMB

Following the rancour at the University of
Lagos on Wednesday morning over
admission
scores, the spokesperson of the Joint
Admission and Matriculation Board,
Fabian Benjamin, has said universities are
allowed to go above the National admission
examination cut off mark.
JAMB had announced 180 as the cut off
score for admission into degree
programmes and 150 for national
certificate in education, national diploma
and national innovation diplomas.
But explaining to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr.
Benjamin said a university, depending on
its peculiarities , can raise its cut off mark
above the national recommendation of 180.
In the early hours of Wednesday, hundreds
of Unified Matriculation Examination
candidates stormed the University of Lagos
to protest the decision of the institution to
stop candidates from writing the
forthcoming post UTME.
Many candidates with their parents
gathered at the university gates as early as
7 a.m. chanting solidarity songs,
demanding the removal of the JAMB
registrar, Dibu Ojerinde.
Fred Enejo, a candidate, told PREMIUM
TIMES that students were prevented from
writing the examination to secure
admission into the university.
“We were stopped at the gate simply
because we got below 250 which they
claim is the schools cut-off mark,” he said.
But Mr. Benjamin, explained that the
University of Lagos decided that their cut
off point should be 250 as a means of
getting the best candidates.
“If the University of Lagos has over 25,000
students applying and they have a carrying
capacity of less than 7,000 and has over
15,000 candidates that scored over 250,
why will they take less than 250. It simply
means the university is trying to see how
they can get the best,” Mr. Benjamin said.
He said there was nothing wrong with
what the universitydid as there will come
a time when schools will fix cut off scores
at 300.
Mr. Benjamin added that JAMB will not
take anything less than what was officially
announced as the cut-off score.

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES