DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ONLINE EXAMINATION OF UNIFIED TERTIARY MATRICULATION EXAMINATION

Abstract

Registration for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, is organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, for admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This registration is conducted in all the states in Nigeria in a given period of the year. Many a times, the process is cumbersome, not organized and possess a lot of stress to students. So, the goal of this project is to provide a readily accessible and user-friendly system for students to register for UTME online and also to access the result of the examination online. This would be similar to other online registration forms, but it will also feature the following advantages; as a web-based system, students will be able to have access from any computer that has a web browser and is connected to the Internet to register for UTME, with a graphical interface, this system will be more user-friendly and intuitive to use. The introduction of on-line registration was an enormous improvement over the old, cumbersome paper-based method. In the course of implementing the software, HTML and Visual Basic 6.0 was used to design an online examination registration and result checking form for UTME.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

It is obvious globally that most candidates seeking admission to higher education prefer universities. The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), however, will help recruit students to other kinds of institutions such as the Polytechnic and the College of Education.
Emodi (2010) observed that our higher educational institutions are confronted with the pressure of an increasing number of students demanding for access. She stressed that students compete for the limited places in our universities and that in all countries, admission into the top institutions have become more difficult to achieve. Emodi therefore noted that competition has always been a force in institutions of higher education and that in many ways, it can help to produce excellence and best performance.
Adedoyin (2009) however canvassed for the approval of more private tertiary institutions in Nigeria, adding that the number of Universities in the country was inadequate and cannot satisfy the educational needs of the Nigeria youths. This assertion is also true and applicable to both State and Federal Universities in Nigeria, bearing in mind the number of candidates seeking admission yearly.
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was established in Nigeria in 1978. Prior to this, each University was responsible for the conduct of its own concessional examination and admitted its students. In 1987, JAMB performed the exemplary feat of printing examination materials in Nigeria. Since then, the Board’s question papers have always been produced and answer scripts processed in Nigeria-Idoko (2008). JAMB, which is now (1978-2010) 32years old, celebrated its 30th anniversary of success (1978-2008) at the Headquarters office, Bwari, Abuja. A review of JAMB activities after more than thirty years of existence, with the introduction of UTME is seen as imperative and justifiable.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Manual registration and examination processing system in any process or institution or exam body is always affected by delay, misplacement, erroneous entries, etc. Examination registration is highly a critical issue as students affected by these lapses may loose one year before they can register for another exam. This leads to lost of resources, time, discouragement, and defeat in academic pursuit. Going by this, it is evident that for an effective administration of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the registration and examination result process has to be online.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The objective of this project is to examine how unified tertiary and matriculation examination system can be computerised, with the main objective being to:
1. Develop a website that can enable the JAMB administration to process student‘s registration form.
2. Design an online examination processing system for UTME
3. Design a system that will allow students to check their results online.

1.4 Purpose of the Project

The purpose of this study is to design an online database for unified tertiary and matriculation examination for the purpose of online registration form for student‘s examination registration and checking of result online.

1.5 Significance of the Study

Clear advantages of Internet information processing over those of traditional manual system are higher yields. Online system allows the users to process information online. There are many other advantages of online registration for unified tertiary and matriculation examination system and some of them are listed below. It saves a lot of time. Students registration data are secured Accuracy of bio data is guaranteed
o It is very convenient to use.
o Information processing are very fast.

1.6 Scope of the Study

This research work covers student‘s examination registration and printing of registered candidates list online. It also covers post and checking students result online.

1.7 Limitations

As a result of time constraints, the researcher was unable to visit JAMB Headquarter Abuja to gather information on how they operate the unified tertiary and matriculation examination registration. So, most of the information were sourced from JAMB website and their state office in Enugu.

1.8 Definition of Terms

UTME: unified tertiary and matriculation examination Competitive examination is an examination where candidates are ranked according to their grades
Databases: A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called databank.
File Transfer: Any kind of computer file can be sent via the Internet from one Internet user to another. Table of accounts on spreadsheets, design by a graphic artists, music sound files etc, can all be exchanged in this way.
Web Site: A website is a collection of many interconnected web pages organized by a specific college, organization company etc, containing web pages (good and commodities) on the Internet.
Examination: is a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge; “when the test was stolen the professor had to make a new set of questions”

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