The University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), has prided itself as the most cosmopolitan institution in its admission processes as compared with other universities in the country.
Prof. Aliyu Shugaba, the Vice Chancellor of the university made the assertion at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
Shugaba was reacting to concerns from the public that students from other geopolitical zones are not admitted to study courses such as medicine, law and pharmacy as they were reserved for northern students.
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He allayed the fears of the public, saying that the school admissions were usually done through the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) introduced by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
“Well, I can categorically say that it is not true and I will give you the reason why. The admission policy has always been that 45 per cent of the students will come in on merit.
“And the entire admission is not done on the table; it is done on the CAPS, an admission processing systems that JAMB has come up with.
”It is called the CAPS and the CAPS has been programmed in such a way that 45 per cent of the people you are admitted for any programme – medicine, pharmacy, law or whatever; it has to be on merit,’’ he said.
The vice chancellor said that the university also considered giving admission to students from educationally disadvantaged states.
He said this was in a bid to ensure that qualified students from all over the country got admission into the university, irrespective of states.
“There is what is called the ‘Educationally Disadvantaged State’ which is also considered in terms of people in the South-South and the South-West.
“ States that are considered educationally disadvantaged; we just have to consider them. By doing so, we normally have students from all over the country.
“I can say confidently without fear of contradiction or whatsoever that the University of Maiduguri is the most cosmopolitan university in this country,
“ I can tell you that there is no single local government in this country that we do not have students from.
“ Because of that policy, there is no place we go to in this country that we do not meet our alumni. That is the beauty of it and we pride ourselves on that,’’ he said.
Shugaba explained that the place of federal character was usually taken into consideration during the university’s admission processes.
He said ordinarily, many would not have gotten admission even with their qualifications but for the considerations given to students from educationally disadvantaged states.
“Every programme has its own cut-off point and for medicine the cut-off point is 250 for people from the non-catchment states; 220 and above for people from the catchment states.
“And then you go to other areas of the guidelines, we find out that there are other considerations like the educationally disadvantaged within this area.
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