UNILAG goes online for post-UTME test holding Feb 15-23

University of Lagos has announced that its rescheduled post-UTME test will now hold between February 15 and February 23, 2021, adding however that it will be non-physical.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Lagos on Sunday.

He also said that the institution would commence online lectures for returning students on Monday January 25, 2021.

He said, “We are to conduct our post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME) test on February 15 to February 23; that is, it will run for about nine days.

“This examination is going to be e-examination such that wherever the candidates are, they do not need to come to campus. It is simple and convenient.”

He explained that the decision to go online for the examination was necessitated by the presence of new strain of COVID-19 and the need to prevent its further spread.

The vice chancellor also appealed to public-spirited Nigerians to assist indigent candidates to get tablets as the university would involve them in the examination.

He added that in the face of the resurgence of COVID-19 pandemic, all academic activities of the institution, including examinations, would be online.

Ogundipe said, “We looked at the issue of indigent candidates; we then decided to see how we can carry them along.

“Right now, we have started talking to some friends of the university and alumni to see how we can get tablets that we can give them. We have got the number of these indigent candidates registered for the post-UTME test, and they are above 200.”

He said that the candidates would need the tablets not just for the purpose of the post-UTME test but also to facilitate other e-learning processes.

 “We are talking to the alumi president and friends of the university to get these tablets in order to facilitate e-learning processes,” he said.

Ogundipe said that over 50,000 candidates applied for admission into the university in the 2020/2021 academic session, with about 22,000 scoring 200 marks and above.

According to him, 21,955 candidates have so far paid for the conduct of the post-UTME test.

The VC said, “It is the first time that we are conducting this type of examination, and it is such that these candidates must have their laptops with cameras.

“If they do not have camera attached to their laptops, they will not be allowed to participate in the examination. We expect the results to come out within one week after the conduct of the examination.”

Ogundipe also said the university had collapsed the 2020/2021 academic session with 2021/2022 academic session.

 “It is going to affect our admission number, because it means we have to admit two streams, except if JAMB is not conducting its examination this year. If it is conducting, we are mandated to admit students,” he said.

Ogundipe also said that the university could not afford bringing back students to campus due to COVID-19 pandemic.