The Head, Information and Communication Technology Resource Centre (ICTREC) of The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) Dr. Olutayo Ajayi, has disclosed that with the recent conclusion of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), across the country, the University Management had put necessary machinery in place to ensure the smooth conduct of the Post-UTME.
According to Dr. Ajayi, the University would be expecting at least 15,000 candidates to take the electronic examination (e-exams), using about 750 computer systems for one week at three sessions per day. A future innovation plan is that the centre aims at ensuring that the examination be conducted within a shorter period of time, adding that probably by the time the University collaborated with some external testing centres, it would be possible for candidates from Lagos, the East or other distant places to write their examinations without necessarily coming to FUNAAB.
According to him, “by so doing, we will be able to finish what we hitherto used to do in a week in one or two days, giving us the opportunity to serve them better. Students can take the exams at their convenience, that is, very close to their domain, instead of having to travel down, because during the exams, we notice that people travel down, stay around the campus and the neighbouring communities loitering around. But all these will be eradicated if we begin to implement the new idea that we have”.
On his assessment of this year’s UTME result, being the first time that JAMB would be conducting a fully electronic exam, Dr. Ajayi said information reaching him on the performance of students of the University’s Institute of Human Resource Development (INHURD), indicated that the results were better than that of last year because almost all the students scored well above 200 points. He opined that the examination has come to stay because “people have invested so much on it and we found out that there was less malpractice and things went on well. Secondly, in a situation whereby an examination is conducted and within a short period, students can have access to their scores, I think this is a pointer that it is sustainable and so I don’t see it being stopped in the nearest future, but I see it being improved upon”. The way I look at it, the West African Examination Council (WAEC), might even come on board, whereby their examinations will be e-exams”.
The Head of ICTREC added that another innovation his Centre was proposing, would involve the introduction of a platform on the web, which will give room for candidates to go and practice past questions for a token fee so that by the time they sit for the exams, they would be more knowledgeable and have a feel of that examination. He said that although the candidates would have had some experience after taking the UTME, the JAMB platform was different from that of the University in terms of the software, he said.
Speaking on the security of the University platform for post-UTME, Dr. Ajayi said it was very secure because FUNAAB has a unique style of bringing its examination questions into the server room few hours before the exams, hence it is not possible to hack into an off-line platform, because it is local and is solely within the University. He also commended the adoption of the e-examination, stressing that it had added value to the nation’s system of examination. He said the e-examination enabled students to read more broadly, as they are tested with multiple choice questions, which could come from any part of the textbook or lecture notes, unlike the conventional way of using the normal testing, whereby people could just chose not to read a topic, adding that e-exams also made students to be computer-literate, because they would be forced to learn how to use the computer.
Concluding, Dr. Ajayi however disclosed that the national cut off point was yet to be determined by JAMB which will assist the University in choosing its own cut off mark and date for its Post-UTME.
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