2020 Admissions: 405,256 Quota Unused By Tertiary Institutions — JAMB

THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that tertiary institutions were unable to use about 405,256 admission quota available to them during the 2020 admissions, despite the fact that many Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates are still not admitted.

JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, speaking during his presentation at the 2021 UTME admission policy meeting in Abuja, disclosed that out of the total 925,762 of admission quota, only 551,553 candidates were admitted leaving 405,256 of their carrying capacity unfilled.

He, however, attributed this to several factors, including rigidity on the part of both candidates and institutions, where a candidate insists on a particular course like medicine, and the institution on the other hand, insisting on a particular subject combination for a course, wrong O’ Level subject combination, low post UTME screening score, UTME combination deficiency, non-acceptance of offer, duplication of application, absence from post UTME screening, mismatch of catchment institutions and no O’ Level – trial candidates.

Findings also indicated that many private tertiary institutions are under-subscribed because of high tuition fees , as such unable to fill their admission quota.

The JAMB registrar further disclosed that about 2.1 million UTME and Direct Entry (DE) candidates who took part in the 2020 admission exercise had applied to tertiary institutions across the country, including universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education.

He said out of this figure, only 1,112,057 candidates scored 140 and above and also made five O’ level credit passes in English and Mathematics.

He added that a total of 925,762 quota was allocated for admissions across the nation’s tertiary institutions during the year, but a total of 405,256 spaces remained unused as of August 31.

The registrar said before the end of the 2020 admission process on October 29, 2021, the examination body hopes the figure of admitted candidates would have increased to about 600,000.

In the same vein, Oloyede disclosed that out of the 4,948 candidates who scored 300 and above, only 3,492 gained admissions into higher institutions, leaving out a total of 1,456 stranded.

Meanwhile, about 52, 323 candidates scored between 250 and 299 in the same examination, out of which 22,580 candidates were also not admitted while some 193,661 candidates out of 347,469 who scored between 200 and 249 were not offered admission.

The 2020 figure of candidates who scored 300 and above but could not gain admission indicated a significant increase from that of 2019 which is about 679 candidates.

Source: https://tribuneonlineng.com/2020-admissions-405256-quota-unused-by-tertiary-institutions-jamb/