Starting from the 1st January, 2023, communication between the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), regulatory bodies for higher institutions and all tertiary institutions in Nigeria will be through a single, unified platform, said the examination body.
JAMB said its Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS) has been developed as a medium of communication for the stakeholders in the admission processing system, adding that the platform will offer them various levels of access for communication.
Speaking at a meeting to brief stakeholders on the functionalities of IBASS on Monday, JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, said the initiative was to hasten and ease the flow of requests and approvals away from the current mode of exchanging letters between the institutions and regulatory bodies.
Through this platform, Mr Oloyede said tertiary institutions can prescribe their admission quota and requirements and list the courses they offer.
Regulatory bodies can also update the accreditation status of institutions and their programmes or courses accredited for them to offer on the platform.
He said the platform will put a halt to the use of letters for requests and approval between the agencies and institutions which usually takes time and more effort to implement.
JAMB’s CAPS
JAMB had in 2017 introduced the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) where all tertiary institutions upload the admission status of candidates offered admission in the institutions.
CAPS has centralised and automated admission processes between candidates and their chosen tertiary institutions.
With IBASS, communication regarding the number of students allocated to institutions, newly accredited programmes and demister programmes will be requested and approved on the platform.
He said: “As NUC approves a quota, University of Ibadan or Ilorin will send (JAMB) that 1,000 have been approved to us as a quota, they will write to us. NUC will write (too) that 1,000 have been approved as a quota for (University of) Ibadan. While we are waiting for that, it takes time.
“We now feel that we can automate. Immediately NUC approves 1,000, it goes not only to the university, but also JAMB and we all see it and we all know that 1,000 has been approved. Ibadan does not need to write (to JAMB) again.”
Through the automated platform, he said registrars of respective institutions can access the admissions of their institutions.
Mr Oloyede said this was in response to complaints by registrars that they have been relegated from their roles of monitoring admissions at their respective institutions.
“Before now registrars of institutions have no say in communication, admission and everything. But they have been complaining that as the chief administrative officer, they also want to see what is going on. They want to know what the vice-chancellors and admission officers are doing. We have created access for the registrars,” he said.
While registrars cannot make alterations on the portal, the JAMB boss said they can make suggestions for their vice-chancellors and admission officers.
The updated functions of the IBASS were explained to regulatory agencies and heads of tertiary institutions by JAMB officials on Monday.
Reactions
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretaries of the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Abubakar Rasheed, Idris Bugaje, Paulinus Okwelle, respectively, attended the event.
Speaking on the new development, Mr Bugaje, a professor, said the board will next year begin the digital accreditation for polytechnics.
He said his board plans to, in the future, include QR codes on all certificates from Nigerian polytechnics for easy verification of results.
He said: “NBTE is already digitising its activities including accreditations. We can’t continue to send a large number of people to accredit academic programmes. This year, we are running a platform starting from 2023 on digital accreditation.”
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