WHY MANY MAY MISS ADMISSIONS IN REGULAR PROFESSIONAL COURSES
By Emeka Amaefula
DISQUIET IN UTME CANDIDATES IN CHOICE OF CAREER COURSES IN 2023 UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS
WHY MANY MAY MISS ADMISSIONS IN REGULAR PROFESSIONAL COURSES
Whereas the highest performance score in 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations was 360 mark with usual minimum cut off marks for university admission set at 180 marks for Universities and lower score lines for Colleges of Education and Polytechnics across the country, the 2023 UTME is going to be more competitive for those UTME candidates whose first course of choices are in the core traditional professional courses such as Medicine, Engineering, Law, Social Sciences and Humanities. Data from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board-JAMB on the enrolment of 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination indicate that there were a higher percentage of candidates who chose traditional professional courses as their first choice in most universities which include Medicine and Surgery.
Statistics coming out from the Consultative meeting of JAMB in revelation to a review of the 2023 admissions in tertiary institutions and released by JAMB show that In Engineering there are vacancies of 68,896 in the universities but applicants for such courses are about 163, 123. Whereas for Medicine and Surgery related Courses there are 452,443 applicants for the only available vacancies of 78,578 for MBBs admission slots in Nigerian Universities.
Again, there were 239,018 candidates who chose Social sciences courses as their first choice in the Universities for the only available spaces of 97, 744.
And for Sciences about 227,453 candidates applied for the only available admission spaces of 141,397 in the Universities. The Administration related Courses with a total of 38,725 available slots total numbers of subscribers are 117,792 candidates. For Arts and Humanities, it was revealed that a total of 85,264 candidates applied for the available spaces of 52,221 in the period under review.
It’s gathered from the data released by JAMB that there were other Courses that most applicants ignored especially in Education and Agricultural studies in the universities. Such as 52,702 candidates applied for Education related Courses with available vacancies of 111,176. However, in Agriculture related Courses there are vacancies of 30, 536 slots available but only 20,133 applied for such Courses leaving a shortfall of 10,403 available slots in Agricultural related Courses.
On the role of parents who mandate their children to choose traditional core professional career Courses in the university against the will of the children an academic Dr. (Mrs.) Love Ihewulezi-Alozie holder of Doctoral Degree in Educational Administration and School founder Dancillia Group of Schools Port Harcourt opined that in her School the role of Guidance and Counselling unit has always been for parents to allow their wards and children make informed decisions of what career best suit their innate and academic abilities. Because, many children have been forced to choose courses they don’t have zeal and much likeness for but to satisfy the desire of their parents such children never recover in being useful members of the society irrespective of having graduated with degrees in medicine, Law, Engineering and others.
Another, causes of higher demand for Career Courses in Nigerian Universities has been attributed to lack of opportunities in the labour market after graduation Dr. Caroline Uwaoma Onyirioha a serving Principal at Comprehensive Secondary School Emeabiam Owerri West Local Government Area, in Imo said “ Because parents see that there’s no viable opportunities in the labour market after graduation should their children study Education related Course in the University so, they want their children to study professional courses that will provide them self-employment but that is the case nowadays with an eye on entrepreneurship graduates now venture into productive ventures outside Courses they have studied in the Universities.” She concluded that Education is only a creative and formatting tool for human development.
Meanwhile Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB at the end of the 2023 Policy Meeting of Tertiary Institutions held at Abuja on Saturday 24th of June, 2023 adopted National Minimum Tolerable Score for admissions into Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education as 140, 100 and 100 respectively. The JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede made this available to newsmen. He further disclosed that all tertiary institutions must comply with the Rules and not go beyond the approved points of entry. While reiterating that every tertiary Institution must set its own minimum standard as it concerns institutional screening and grading in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination-SSCE which he said must not go more than 50-marks. “All institutions must abide by this minimum point. This means that no institution can go below the standard. For the 15 private Universities that demand between 120 and 130 as Minimum points, note that the 140 is sacrosanct and must not be violated. This is because the system put in place will not recognize 139, so ensure you comply.” This will unsettle most parent’s anxiety of having their wards and children gain admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions in the 2023/2024 academic session.
=====================Emeka Amaefula================+234(0)8111813069
