By ALEX ENEBELI

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) say it will begin full online accreditation of tertiary institutions and admissions in January 2023.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made the disclosure in Enugu on Tuesday at the training of heads of tertiary institutions in the South East on its newly introduced online platforms.

Oloyede said the aim was to improve communication and ease admission process at tertiary institutions.

The participants were Vice Chancellors, Provosts, Rectors, Registrars, Admission Officers, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics and others.

They were trained on Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) and Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS) newly introduced by the board for quality and efficient services.

Declaring the training open, the JAMB Registrar, said the training was aimed at bridging the communication gap between JAMB, tertiary institutions and its regulatory agencies.

Oloyede, who spoke through zoom, said the board engaged the participants to make things easier for all the stakeholders through JAMB online initiatives.

He said, “We created CAPS as a technical platform for JAMB officials and heads of institutions- the Vice Chancellors, Rectors and others to interact efficiently.

“So when it comes to CAPS, admissions become seamless,” he said.

The registrar recalled that in 2017, the board created appropriate and adequate platform for candidates/students to interact with JAMB.

“But other major stakeholders when it comes to admission and administration particularly with the regulatory agencies like National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for College of Education and NBTE, communication are confusing.

“This is because JAMB will not be aware when it accredits some institutions or courses.

“At times we will have to check to see they have given accreditation to some schools. All these become a problem due to communication gap,” the Registrar said.

He explained that the communication gap made them to create a platform for the curriculum and admission for institutions.

“There is need for a three way communication whereby when it comes to issue of accreditation, curriculum, amendment of requirements and others, JAMB, institutions and regulatory agencies will be involved.

“It is for this reason that we unveiled IBASS for vibrant communication and it is efficient and keeps our records permanently because nobody can deny it.

“From Jan. 1, there will be no letter writing and any issue relating to accreditation, approval of the programme, amendment of curriculum will be done on IBASS platform,” he said.

Also speaking, the Zonal Director, JAMB, Enugu, Mrs. Ebere Okeke, said the platforms would remove the risk and pain of institutions travelling to submit physical letters at its headquarters.

She added that there would be no network challenge as the board had been using similar platforms for its examinations for candidates without network failures.

A participant and Admission Officer, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Dr. Godwin Nnaji, described the training as “extremely desirable” as it would offer stakeholders some practical experience about JAMB news online platforms.

No fewer than 200 heads of tertiary institutions participated at the training. (NAN)