The Joint Admission Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) Central Admission Processing System [CAPS] User Guide for Tertiary Institutions, Admission Officers, and Head of Departments.
To help all Tertiary Institutions and Admission Officers in Nigerian Institutions become familiar with the systems, the Joint Admission Matriculation Board, or JAMB, has posted the User Guide for the Central Admission Processing System [CAPS].
The Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) was introduced by the Board last year for the 2017–2018 Admissions Exercise, marking the first time this component of its operations would be automated.
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I am delighted to note that in spite of the challenges that usually accompany any change initiative, particularly change premised on introduction of technology, the implementation of CAPS has delivered on the promised benefits and significantly improved the 2017 / 2018 Admission Process.
The benefits include enhanced transparency, accountability, fairness, equity, and inclusiveness. To cap these benefits, 2017 /2018 recorded the highest number of Admissions to date, a direct result of the expanded admissions opportunities offered by the CAPS platform.
While announcing the CAPS debut in 2017, the Board’s announce also a plan to run dual mode of
admission – retaining the manual process for one year and running CAPS in parallel. This was intended to achieve buy-in and familiarity with the system by the critical stakeholders and address any teething problems that could arise with the potential to jeopardise the Admission Process.
However, due to the cooperation received from the stakeholders – particularly the tertiary institutions – and the robust awareness and capability building programmes mounted by the Board, the transition to CAPS was much smoother than envisaged and the journey even more rewarding to the Admission ecosystem. And this made it no longer necessary to run the manual process in parallel for 2017 / 2018 exercise.
Nonetheless, three main reasons have propelled the need to develop the current version 2 of CAPS.
First, a few initial control features in the system were not activated for the 2017 / 2018 exercise to prevent too much shock to the system and the user community from being overwhelmed.
Secondly, some challenges identified in the first version have now been addressed in the new version. Thirdly, as with every technology solution, CAPS version 2 has also taken advantage of advances in technology to improve the user experience, system performance and security. Some of the new features are highlighted in the next section.
This User Guide for tertiary institutions is therefore to provide the users with a tool to perform and
enjoy their respective roles as Admission Officers and Heads of their Institutions.
While experienced users of the first version will easily notice a number of familiar features in the Guide and may therefore be tempted to read the relevant sections with less than the desired attention, there are few but very significant changes that the users must be conversant with in the Version 2 to avoid unnecessary operational hiccups. Of course, new CAPS users are not disadvantaged in any way as the User Guide makes no assumption of previous experience with the CAPS pplatform. However, as will be expected, basic knowledge and skills in the operations of computers are prerequisites for any software of this nature, CAPS inclusive.
It is therefore my utmost pleasure to welcome you on board of CAPS Version 2 for a 2018 / 2019
Admission journey that, working together, promises to be smoother, more rewarding and most important will further expand Admission opportunities for the candidates.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 JAMB Mandate on Admissions
At the heart of the mandate of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is the placement of suitably qualified candidates into tertiary institutions in conjunction with the institutions, as contained in the enabling Law now codified as JAMB Act Cap 193, Laws of the Federation 2004. Introduction (in 2017) and deployment of the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) is in furtherance of this mandate. This Document is User Guide for the CAPS Version 2 that is in use for the 2018 / 2019 Admissions Exercise.
1.2 What is New in CAPS Version 2
The following are some of the new features activated and operations in CAPS Version 2.
- Incremental Download of Candidates to cater for candidates that changed to the
- Institution since last download
- Enforcement of UTME Subjects combination
- Enforcement of O’ Level Subjects requirements
- Enhanced CAPS Messaging functionality for communication between JAMB Desk
- Officers and Admission Officers
- Improved Colour Coding
- Ability to Sort and Filter Candidates by different criteria to facility better
- Admission judgement
- Additional features in the Market Place
- Multiple Post UTME results for candidates, currently limited to First and Second
- Choice Institutions
- Mobile App for candidates
- Chat Room
1.3 Admission Process Workflow
The Workflow for the Admissions Process on CAPS is as follows in the order shown:
i. Policy Meeting held on 26 June, 2018, with national minimum cut off marks decided for the various categories of institutions
ii. User Profiles Creation on the System
iii. Admission Parameters Setting on the System (Quota as approved by the Regulatory Bodies, respective Institution Cut off marks, Programme quota, etc.)
iv. Candidates Download by Institutions
v. Internal Processing by Institutions, Including Post UTME Screening / Test (if applicable)
vi. Upload of Post UTME Screening Results (if any)
vii. Further Processing by Institutions
viii. Systems Creating Suggested Admission List Based on the Institution’s Admission Criteria
ix. Admission Officer Preparing Proposed List for Head of Institution’s Review and Approval
x. Head of Institution Recommends Candidates to JAMB Desk Officer
xi. Desk Officer Processes Recommended List and Generates List of Provisional Admissions
xii. JAMB Contacts Candidates to Accept or Decline Admission
xiii. If Candidate Accepts, Admission is concluded for Candidate
xiv. If Candidate Declines, s/he is returned to Market Place for Possible Consideration by Other Institutions
xv. Market Place Operations
1.4 Admissions Guidelines (Formula)
The Admissions Criteria (Formula) currently in operations for all Federal Government owned tertiary institutions in the country are as follows:
- Merit 45%
- Catchment Area 35%
- Educationally Less Developed States 20%
State Government owned tertiary institutions have similar guidelines based on the Laws establishing them while privately owned institutions have more flexibility with Admissions criteria.
Institutions are advised to adhere to the applicable criteria while admitting candidates as these are being monitored on CAPS.
1.5 How to Use This Guide
Admission Officers and Heads of Institutions are encouraged to read the entire Guide in order to have a complete understanding of the Workflow and interrelationship between their roles. And this becomes evident in the following explanation.
The Forward and Introduction (this section) provide a context that is required by all.
Section 2 on Access to CAPS and User Responsibility is also applicable to all intended users of the system.
Section Three on Parameters Setting provides information on how to set the parameters that will guide the individual institution Admission Process and
operations of CAPS.
While this role is to be performed on CAPS by the Admission Officer, the Head of Institution has a responsibility to review and confirm that the settings reflect the decisions of the institution.
Section Four is on the other roles of the Admission Officer while Section Five is the one specifically for the Head of Institution.
Section Six highlights how to obtain help support for all users of the system while Section Seven contains important milestones and dates for the 2018 / 2019 Admission Exercise.
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