Alevels Programs: Should I Register In Universities Centres or Affiliated centres.

To be clear, some universities operate these programmes such as IJMB, JUPEB, Cambridge A level, and even IUFP, at least that carry their names.

These universities use these programmes as one of their internally generated revenue source. And they do have an edge over affiliated/private a-levels centres as a result of their branded/popular names.

Today, we are here to discuss whether you should apply for it in a university centre or a privately operated centre.

Universities centres are being operated like public schools while private centres, owned by private entities and privately funded.

Like public schools, you expect more students there, you expect sizeable areas, you expect easier admission, you expect government-funded lecturers(salary), you expect low fees, and you even expect the program to be operated inside the campus itself and not outside the university campus and expect to be provided with the hostel.

The above are mostly not true to a very large extent, first of all, the only major difference between university centres is the name and that is the edge that they have over Alevel affiliated centres, you can never compare the standard and attention given to your ward in affiliated centres to the one at exceed university centres.

The areas being used by universities A-levels centres are not inside the campus, this is true to 95% o, any university that operates a levels program operates it outside the university not within, this is the first truth you should.

Sample: ABU IJMB centre is at Funtua not even at Zaria at all. You still applied to ABU Zaria just like someone who did it at Ekpoma centre in Edo state.

Another point Alevel applicants expect government-funded lecturers, this is also not true, like we earlier said, A-levels programs at university centres are one of the internal revenue sources for the universities, the government are not responsible for the payment of lecturers, it is the university that will look for different lecturers and employ them to teach these students.

The point is that the lecturer at the university and the one teaching A-level students of a university are the different sets of people and different employment conditions.

Sample: Many students consider university first because of this, thinking they will be taught by the same lecturers at the university, that is absolutely not true.

You expect low fees: This is not usually the case unless, in the Northern part of the country, where their low fees for A-levels programs are generally is low, in the Southern part of Nigeria, A-levels programs are lower in private centres than universities centres.

In the Northern part of Nigeria, like Kano, Katsina, Sokoto IJMB average fee is 145,000 while registration except Futminna is #5,500

In the Southern part of Nigeria, the average fee in private centres is #8,500 for IJMB form, while universities centres around #17,000. For JUPEB registration form fee at private centres is #15,000, at universities you can see forms for as high as #25,000 to #35,000 and these are public universities.

Acceptance fee average fee in private centres is #20,000 while the average fee for Universities acceptance fee is #50,000. So there is no low fee as imagined at universities centres.

Since some of those A-levels programmes have insisted that they can only use a college of education, Polytechnic and University as their examinations centres except, this is one area universities centres have an edge except Cambridge A level, IUFP and NABTEB A-level.

P.S: IJMB and JUPEB have insisted on doing the exam in a university.

IJMB average tuition fee is 180k with accommodation inclusive while in universities it’s 200k without accommodation in the Southern part of the country.

JUPEB average fee is 270k with accommodation inclusive in private centres while the average fee at universities centres is 350k without accommodation.

Another myth is easier admission, students and parent always think that if they do it at University A, it will be easier for them to gain admission to that university, it is not like that, all admissions are processed via JAMB CAPs for A-levels programs, it’s JAMB Direct Entry, whether the program is done at a university or a private centres, it does not matter, at the end of the day what matters is your point and the competition of preferred course.

Sample: If you do the IJMB program at federal University Kushere in Gombe state and score 5 points and another person score 7 points while doing it at a privately run centre at Abuja or Ebonyi, provided all other conditions being equal, the person with 7 points who did it at the private centre will get admission before the person that did it at Kushere with 5 points.

The last point is, you expect to be provided with a hostel, 90% of universities centres does not have provision for that.

But where should you as a parent/guardian or student register A-level for your ward?

The above points we want parents and students should understand before they register for the program. Let us see some of the merits of private centres.

At private centres, no bureaucracy or any stress to go through, they make sure you have access to your centre coordinator/Director anytime you want, your lecturers can be approached anytime you want, your textbooks are provided immediately you pay for it.

Functioning phone numbers for calls and messages which are response to within 10 minutes are provided publicly where you can have access to it anytime, working email address average response time of 30 minutes, and in addition to that, working WhatsApp number with an average response time of 5 minutes. You cannot get that at any university centres.

No private centres will want their students to fail, the quality lectures and the frequency of it cannot be matched and doing so by following the syllabus for the A-level cannot be overemphasized. Then during your admission into the university programme, each private centres have their lobby method for easier admission for their students.

At private centres, it is when you gain admission they have success stories while at universities centres, your admission into the university is left in your own hand and they barely care about your grade which your performance is being closely monitored at private centres with monthly tests.

Start your IJMB registration here for affiliated IJMB centres. If you still want to gain admission into universities centres, just type the universities and the program you want to apply for.

Example: If you want to apply for JUPEB program at Unilag, you will simply type ‘Unilag JUPEB’ on Google and you will make sure the website you entered has .edu.ng TLD.

And if you want to do the program at affiliated JUPEB centres. you just click HERE to start the registration.