The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has commenced moves aimed at reviewing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to incorporate life skills, critical thinking, analytical, logical and verbal reasoning into the admission test.
JAMB Registrar,Prof Segun Aina disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday.
The review is aimed at moving the UTME beyond testing subject knowledge already assessed at O-Level by WAEC and NECO, and making it more relevant to the demands of tertiary education.
The board said the review will also determine whether the current UTME format remains an effective predictor of candidates’ ability to succeed in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
In view of the review,JAMB has set up a committee that will consider whether the new competencies should be assessed separately or embedded in existing UTME subjects.
The committee has been given four weeks to submit its initial recommendations. It will also consider other measures that could improve the predictive validity, fairness and transparency of the examination, with assessment experts expected to develop any framework eventually adopted.
