IMPLICATIONS OF SCRAPPING JAMB AND UTME FROM TERTIARY EDUCATION ADMISSION PROCESS: THE EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS’ PERSPECTIVE

The Federal Government of Nigeria proposed that JAMB and UTME should be scrapped from the Tertiary Education admission process, as a strategy to reduce the cost of governance. This policy had generated a lot of controversies among stakeholders. The study examined the implications of scrapping JAMB and UTME from Tertiary Education Admission. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select 3300 respondents, made up of 1000 lecturers, 2000 teachers and 300 education officers. A sixteen item questionnaire was administered to the 3300 respondents used in this study. Two research questions were raised and answered using weighted mean percentages. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested using ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance. The study had revealed that: lecturers, teachers and education officers do not support the policy of scrapping JAMB and UTME and that scrapping JAMB and UTME could have the implications of increase in the rate of unemployment, non uniform admission criteria and examination syllabus, increase cost due to multiple applications, multiple admissions, haphazard admission policy and break of a chain of quality control. There is no significant difference in the mean perception scores of lecturers, teachers and education officers on the policy to scrap JAMB and UTME from tertiary education admission process and the implications on the educational system. The study recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria should not scrap JAMB and UTME, rather any observed weaknesses should be strengthen and made efficient; and that UTME should be complemented with the conduct of Post UTME in Tertiary institutions in Nigeria.