JAMB Moves to Add Life Skills, Critical Thinking to UTME

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is reviewing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to determine how life skills, critical thinking, analytical, logical and verbal reasoning can be incorporated into the admission test.

The proposed review is aimed at expanding the scope of the UTME beyond the assessment of candidates’ knowledge of school subjects, which are already tested at the secondary-school level through examinations such as the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examination Council (NECO) examinations.

JAMB said the review will also examine whether the current UTME format remains an effective tool for predicting candidates’ ability to succeed in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

To drive the process, the board has inaugurated a committee to consider whether the proposed competencies should be assessed as separate components or integrated into existing UTME subjects.

The committee has four weeks to submit its initial recommendations.

It is also expected to consider measures that could improve the predictive validity, fairness and transparency of the examination. Assessment experts will subsequently be involved in developing any testing framework that may eventually be adopted by the board.