JAMB automates admission, accreditation processes

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that curriculum, accreditation, and general administration issues will be automated between the board, tertiary institutions, and regulatory agencies.

All communication will now occur via the JAMB Interactive e-Brochure and e-Syllabus System.

Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who is in charge of JAMB, announced the new process on Monday in Abuja at a meeting with regulatory agencies and tertiary institutions from the north and south regions, saying, starting on January 1, 2023, the board will only get letters from institutions and agencies through IBASS, not in hard copy.

IBASS is intended to eliminate letter-writing between JAMB, tertiary institutions, and their regulatory agencies, which include the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

The JAMB chief explained that automation would allow for more personalised services.

We discovered that we spend our time attending to letters from some major stakeholders of the board… We also receive from 890 institutions from these stakeholders, Oloyede said.

The board decided that since it could use its Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) to communicate automatically with more than 2 million students, it could do the same for admission and accreditation, he explained further.

He added that with the new platform if NUC approves admission quota, “it would be centralised in such a way that as soon as you see approved, everybody will see it and there is no need to write to JAMB,”

Professor Abubakar Rasheed, Executive Secretary of the NUC, stated that IBASS would revolutionise the admissions process and urged all institutions to “make the best use of the innovation.”

According to the Executive Secretary, NBTE, Professor Idris Muhammad Bugaje, IBASS and CAPS are the way to go because the nation requires digitisation of all communications.

Professor Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, Executive Secretary, NCCE, also reiterated JAMB’s optimism that the platform would make the admission process seamless, addressing challenges and improving efficiency.