The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the management of Nigerian tertiary institutions are set to give waivers for specific types of candidates who meet admission requirements in order to attract more overseas candidates and broaden inclusiveness.
To that end, JAMB and institutions have announced that all applicants in foreign nations, Correctional Centers, and the Blind and Deaf Candidates will be excused from pre-admission institution screening tests.
In its weekly bulletin, JAMB declared that the lists of the respective candidates in these categories would be made accessible to the various Tertiary Institutions for guidance and necessary action for each year preceding the admission exercise.
“This extraordinary waiver is to be viewed as affirmative and inclusive measure for the accommodation of the impacted candidates,” the Board said.
“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 confirmation of the effectiveness of the policy as directed by the 2021 Policy Meeting.
To guide against prospective candidates taking undue advantage of the waiver, JAMB said that measures would be put in place to forestall unjustifiable benefits from the exemption policy.
“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 internationalization 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,” JAMB stated.
Besides, the Board explained that it is at the moment, working on some policy directions to make our universities attractive to foreign students.
Recalled that The Times Higher Education (THE), a renowned global body that creates university rankings to assess university performance on the global stage, had over the years rated the nation’s universities zero, except UNN on the enrolment of international students.
