Candidates who seek admissions into Nigerian tertiary institutions but live abroad or are visually impaired have been granted a waiver from further screening outside the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
This is part of the affirmative action in place by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to attract more foreign candidates into the nation’s higher education and broaden inclusiveness.
Other beneficiaries of the waiver are inmates in Correctional Centres, and Deaf Candidates who are to be exempted from
pre-admission institutions screening tests.
Details of this are contained in a memo released by JAMB on Monday.
The board said that it would release the lists of the respective candidates in these categories to the various tertiary institutions for guidance and necessary action every year preceding the admission exercise.
This special waiver is to be seen as affirmative and inclusive action for the accommodation of the affected
candidates.
The memo further read that, “The Board and the Tertiary Institutions would ensure that candidates from these categories
who meet minimum requirements are admitted and their progress monitored in the various institutions for the purpose of confirmation of the effectiveness of the policy as directed by the 2021 Policy Meeting.
EduCeleb.com understands that international students and the physically challenged constitute less than one percent of admissions into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Preventing abuse of admission waivers
JAMB noted the possibility of people taking undue advantage of this exemption.
It said it has put in place mechanisms that would prevent that.
“For instance, only candidates who are either foreigners or Nigerians that have been confirmed to be residents in foreign countries and are products of foreign school systems can enjoy
this privilege
in the interest of internationalisation
of the nation’s Tertiary Institutions.”
A Nigerian with less than six (6) month-stay in a foreign country is disallowed from taking the UTME in any foreign country.
This effort is to enhance the intake of international students into our tertiary institutions to improve their global rating.
The Board is at the moment working on some policy directions to make our universities attractive to foreign
students.
