>>I don’t support it I do not believe in the extension of the validity of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results. No student wants a carry-over and my mantra on it is that there should be no carry-over. Every admission is supposed to ascertain the currency of the performances of candidates. The universities should be allowed to test the ability of each of the candidates every year. Let there be a common platform for every candidate every admission year. If a candidate is not good enough this year, he or she can do better next year. I know that the three-year validity will save money for the candidates. But the system will be better if candidates are rated on the currency of performance. — Ex-Vice-chancellor, Caleb University, Lagos, Prof. One academic year validity better I believe in currency because what is current today may be stale tomorrow. I am of the view that UTME results should be valid for an academic year. The knowledge today will be stale tomorrow hence there is a need for us to increasingly measure our knowledge level. Three years are too far because knowledge is now on the super highway. — VC, Babcock University, Prof. Tayo Ademola It’ll worsen admission problems I will be disappointed if this bill is eventually passed by the National Assembly. Making UTME result valid for three years will compound admission problems. It means universities will have more candidates to pick from each additional year. This will be unwieldy. It is a pity that Nigerian universities have not been able to admit more than 15 per cent of qualified candidates in spite of the increase in the number of universities from 73 in 2006 to 141 in 2016. There were no private universities in Nigeria until May 10, 1999 when the departing military administration of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) granted operating licenses to four private universities. Now we have 61 private universities and the majority of qualified candidates still roam the streets. The solution to this problem is not to make prospective candidates mentally lazy for three years. What should be done is to provide the enabling conditions for all eligible candidates to gain university admission by expanding the facilities in existing government universities so that they can accommodate more students and make it possible for the average Nigerian parent to afford fees charged by private universities by way of scholarships and revolving loans. — Pioneer VC, Wesley University, Ondo, Prof. ‘Tola Badejo Not a bad idea This is a new one. If this scales through, it is good. It is not really a bad idea. What this means is that the results of the UTME will now be used to secure admission within three years. It will be good for poor parents who cannot afford the cost of having to pay for the UTME forms for their children who do not pass the examination in an admission year. Also, another thing is that the extension of validity may be a way of cutting cost which the current administration is trying to bring to the table. Now that the Nigerian economy is having problems, it will be wise to cut cost. — Professor of Literature at OAU, Segun Adekoya Let research precede policy Policy without research is not good. We do not say because a country is doing this and another country is doing that, we then adopt it. It is bad. There is need for a performance index of the UTME results over a period of time for the government to analyse and see the performance of candidates with high marks in the UTME and who didn’t pass the post-UTME. Then analyse the difference. It is by analysing the result of that kind of data that anything good can come. I am very unhappy about the syllabus we run on our education. It is based on what was given to us. It gives knowledge but does not give understanding. That is why we have many high-flyers. And when they are told to do something practical, they cannot. The youth are too important to be neglected. There must be scientific index and the level of consistency of those who scored high marks in the examination at a given period to determine the adoption of any policy on the examination. If this planned policy is not based on research, it is a guess work and it is wrong to hinge any decision on guess work. UTME is still not a perfect examination. It is an aptitude and scholastic test and still being influenced by many factors. The US SAT, which started in 1901, is a competency examination used for college admissions and even at that, it does not last forever though some universities can pick a score of two years to determine admission. It is better for those who fail the UTME to try again the following year so as not to create problems for the universities that will have to cope with results from influx of admission seekers. — Ex-VC, OAU, Prof. Wale Omole
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