By Amaechi Agbo, Agbani

No fewer than Fourteen Thousand, five hundred and six (14, 506) students have applied to study various courses in the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Enugu State, www.esutmonitor.com can authoritatively report.

As at Thursday 3rd October 2024, out of this figure, Nursing department, which recently got full accreditation from the National Universities Commission, NUC tops the list with 2565 candidates desiring to study the course.

This figure, received on Thursday, October 3, 2024 is expected to have increased with more students queuing to be admitted into the first State University in the country

According to the figure obtained by ESUT Monitor, Computer Science has 1369, Medicine and Surgery has 1334 while Law has a total of 930 candidates respectively.

Other departments with high number of applications are Medical Laboratory with 602, and Pharmacy with 381 candidates.

Interestingly, ESUT has a total of 7, 452 quota of admission to fill. This means that if all goes as planned, almost half of the admission seekers would be rejected by the institution.

But does this provide a headache for the university?

ESUT Vice­-Chancellor, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie said the influx of candidates seeking to be admitted into the university is expected.

“We expected it. I think I am a bit worried that the number is within the range. I had expected a high number. We are working each day to reposition the university and that is one of the outcomes. Students who wrote JAMB UTME are rushing to study in ESUT because we are running our academic calendars strictly. For the past couple of years, our academic calendar has not been distorted. Students want to be in school where they will graduate as prescribed.

“Our transformation narratives are also part of the reasons for the high number of ESUT candidates. I am hopeful that by the time we reach November, the number would have increased,” he said.

On his part, the university Registrar, Chief Ambrose Ugwu explained why candidates who scored high marks in JAMB UTME may not be offered admission. According to the scribe, students’ cut-off marks and admission status are determined by percentage allocation by JAMB.

“This year’s admission, we have so many people that applied to study in ESUT. And the most highly subscribed course is Nursing. We have over 2, 500 candidates applying to study nursing. Then, that of Medicine, we have more than a thousand applying to read medicine. The same thing applies to Pharmacy, Computer Science, Law. These are departments that are highly subscribed, then Medical Laboratory.

“The criteria are clear: you have 10% of that number that would come through merit – for example, in nursing, we are looking for 120. Another 12% is national merit which means any candidate from anywhere in the world can be offered admission in ESUT if he/she got the expected mark; the state merit, is 35%, will come from the indigenes of the state. local government merit is another 35%. For instance, when we talk about the indigenes of the state, like Udenu Local government, a candidate from the area can have 270, 220, and more – then you would pick their own percentage. Another merit is the local government merit. These merits are determined by scores in JAMB UTME.

“Then, we have 20% discretionary, where you have direct entry candidates to admit. In that 20%, that’s where you have staff children and you have members of the House of Assembly, Executive Council. Sometimes you may score 280 in your chosen field but because there are more candidates who scored higher than you, you will not be offered admission. That’s how admission is being done,” he said