The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board has announced its decision to exempt visually-impaired and deaf candidates in correctional services and foreign students from pre-admission screenings by institutions.

The decision, according to the board, is to attract more foreign students and promote inclusiveness.

According to the board’s weekly bulletin which was made available  on Monday, the list of qualified students in such categories would be made available to the respective institutions for admissions.

It said, “This special waiver is to be seen as affirmative and inclusive action for the accommodation of the affected candidates.

“The board and the tertiary institutions will ensure that candidates from these categories, who meet minimum requirements are admitted and their progress monitored in the various institutions for confirmation of the effectiveness of the policy as directed by the 2021 Policy Meeting.”

To guide against prospective candidates taking undue advantage of the waiver, JAMB said measures would be put in place to forestall unjustifiable benefits from the exemption policy.

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Only candidates, for instance, who are either foreigners or Nigerians that have been confirmed to be resident in foreign countries and are products of foreign school systems can enjoy this privilege.

A Nigerian with less than six-month stay in a foreign country is disallowed from taking the UTME in any foreign country.

JAMB stated this effort was to enhance the intake of international students into the country’s tertiary institutions to improve their global rating.