The 30% ‘pass mark for university admissions in Nigeria
On page 5 of The Guardian of Wednesday, August 23, 2017, is the release of cut off marks for university admission by JAMB, where universities may go as low as 120 mark for admission. The 120 is out of possible 400 marks which translates to 30%. Hence my caption is not an exaggeration. This release is being painted in curious colours by saying that it is up to each university to decide. Yes!, we can now start admitting undergraduates who scored 30% into the university. The cut off several years ago was 200 (i.e. 50%) and subsequently it went down to 180. This created a problem for universities like the University of Lagos that insisted on 200 as cut off and there were even threats of legal action, but the university stood its ground. This was also helped by the fact that the Council of Unilag, chaired by the legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola put its foot down, including insisting on the Post-JAMB exams. This 30% mark development is a very sad commentary on the state of higher educati...