By 
…as campuses conduct entrance examinations, process new admissions
Olanrewaju Oyedeji, Ile-Ife
The mood in various Nigerian universities has lately been upbeat as it is that time of the year when secondary school leavers attempt to secure admission into their universities of choice.
At the Obafemi Awolowo University, it was a feeling of high expectations and at the same time, fear, as prospective students of the citadel of learning write their Post UME examinations.
A visit to various halls of residence revealed that all rooms in the halls were filled to the brim due to the presence of the Post-UTME candidates.
Also there was unusual vehicular traffic on campus as parents and guardians brought their wards to write the examination.
Obafemi Awolowo University is one of the best universities in Nigeria with lots of top notch lecturers. The pedigree of the institution usually draws large number of Post UTME candidates into the institution yearly.
However checks by The Difference have revealed that there has been a reduction in the number of students eligible to write the post UTME examination this year.
It was gathered that only 9000 students wrote this year’s post UTME examination. This some say may not be unconnected with the confusion surrounding the efforts of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to re-post shortlisted applicants to schools other than their initially preferred choices. There is also the secondary factor of the recent increase in tuition fees by the university management. It will be recalled that the Prof Bamitale Omole-led university administration had increased tuition fees payable in the university in 2014.
One of the candidates spoken to by The Difference commended the university management for the successful organizing of the post-UTME screening exercise.
‘We all had information about our Exam Centre and room and seat number which was given during the online registration for the post-UTME. This made seating for the examination easier than the orthodox way of making students line up and then start putting them into available seats in an unorganized manner.
On the examination proper, he noted that: ‘we started at 12p.m and it was to last for an hour fifteen minutes and they were thorough with the timing, which is a good point for the administration of the examinations. One other thing that impressed me was the fact that the question papers and the OMR sheets where customized with our names, UTME number and seat number, so all we needed to do was to start shading our answers. Kudos, to the OAU management, they have really convinced me of the orderliness and sincerity.
Also, another thing was our results were released exactly 24 hours after we finished the exam and this made the University administration look clean and sincere in their admission processes.’
The situation was not any different at the University of Lagos and the new Federal University, Lokoja according to dependable sources as at press time, even as the examinations for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and several others were ongoing at the weekend.
Comments