Education

Universities ‘failing to mark down students’ for poor writing skills

Universities and colleges are failing to mark down students for poor spelling, grammar and punctuation, which is leading to grade inflation because of a misguided application of equalities legislation, according to England’s higher education regulator.

After a review of assessment policies at five institutions, the Office for Students (OfS) said it feared that staff being allowed to ignore errors in students’ written work was “widespread”. It warned that it was willing to punish universities for failing to tackle poor writing skills.

The review follows cases this year of institutions using “inclusive assessment” policies more widely, and only taking quality of writing into account in courses where it was deemed to be critical, leading to condemnation from ministers.

Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s director of regulation, said: “The common features we have seen in assessment policies suggest that poor spelling, punctuation and grammar may be accepted across the sector. In publishing this report, we are being clear with universities and colleges that we want to see change.

“Effective assessment should take into account all aspects of a student’s work, and this includes their ability to express themselves effectively and correctly in written English.”

The OfS said its inspectors “analysed examples of assessed student work from a range of modules and disciplines”, along with marking criteria and staff comments, to identify how “language accuracy” was being assessed in practice.

It said it found “common themes that gave us cause for regulatory concern”, including interpretations of the Equality Act and similar legislation made by several universities to justify not assessing proficiency in written English for all students.

“As a consequence, it appears that accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar is not assessed for many students at these providers, and in some cases its assessment is explicitly not permitted.

“Compliance with this legislation does not in our view justify removing assessment of written proficiency in English for all students,” the OfS stated.

“We would expect providers to assess spelling, punctuation and grammar for most students and courses.”

The regulator also suggested that poor assessment practices “could be an indicator of wider concerns” about institutions, with low standards partly behind the increasing proportion of top class degrees being awarded.

“If the policies and approaches identified in this report are leading to students getting higher marks than they otherwise would, for instance because poor proficiency in written English is not being routinely assessed, then this not only undermines the rigour of assessment processes, but also contributes to unexplained grade inflation,” the review said.

The OfS added that it would “test this hypothesis” through further investigation.

However, critics said the OfS’s review of five case studies was too narrow and that such assessment policies were unlikely to be widespread among the more than 400 institutions registered with the regulator.

Universities UK, which represents more than 140 mainstream higher education institutions, said: “Universities fully recognise the importance of English language proficiency and effective communication skills. Their courses and assessments are designed to assess a wide range of skills and knowledge.

“As the OfS notes, this report refers to a small number of universities. The OfS also recognises that practices will differ across the large and diverse university sector, and there is no evidence in what has been presented to suggest the practices causing concern are the norm.”

Michelle Donelan, the universities minister for England, said: “The government is determined to drive up standards at universities so that every student can benefit from a quality education which leads to good outcomes, and it is right that the Office for Students is putting universities that disregard poor written English on notice.”

Education

Oborevwori grants employment to DELSU’s best graduating student

Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State has awarded an automatic employment to Joshua Ilebe, the top-performing student of Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka.

Ilebe, who graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.83, received the employment approval during the university’s 16th Convocation Ceremony for the 2022/2023 academic session held on Saturday.

Governor Oborevwori, who serves as the Visitor of the university, granted this recognition in acknowledgment of Ilebe’s outstanding academic achievement.

He challenged the graduating students of the university to imbibe the entrepreneurial approach to life rather than seeking white-collar jobs.

Oborevwori, who congratulated the graduands for being found worthy in learning and character to earn their various degrees, charged them to influence society with the knowledge garnered, positively.

“As you launch out into the world today, it is my earnest expectation that you will put to good use the academic knowledge and life lessons you have garnered during your sojourn here

Education

Tinubu appoints Jim Ovia as chairman Nigeria Education Loan fund

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Jim Ovia, CFR, renowned banker and businessman, as the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

Mr. Ovia is the founder of one of Nigeria’s leading banks and a respected business leader, with a surfeit of efforts and benefaction towards nurturing and empowering young Nigerians.

He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana.

The National Student Loan Programme is a pivotal intervention that seeks to guarantee sustainable higher education and functional skill development for all Nigerian students and youths.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the implementing institution of this innovation, demands excellence and Nigerians of the finest professional ilk to guide and manage.

The President believes Mr. Ovia will bring his immense wealth of experience and professional stature to this role to advance the all-important vision of ensuring that no Nigerian student suffers a capricious end to their pursuit of higher education over a lack of funds and of ensuring that Nigerian youths, irrespective of who they are, have access to higher education and skills that will make them productive members of society and core contributors to the knowledge-based global economy of this century.

Education

UTME: JAMB arrests father writing exams for son

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, said it arrested a father writing exams for his son during the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

The board warned that it has improved its technology check for those engaging in all forms of examination malpractices.

Speaking in Kaduna on Wednesday, the JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede who inspected the UTME centres in Kaduna, expressed satisfaction over the 2024 examination, which had 1.94 million students this year.

He, however, frowned at few cases of impersonation, adding that some people now have multiple National Identity Number, NIN, which the examination body would take up with the Identification Management body.

“For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay. The technology is helping us to check that. Across the country, most of the problem we have is impersonation. For instance now, we say we have NIN, we now have cases of people with two NIN and therefore, that has defeated the purpose of identity verification. We are going to take that up with NIMC, that there are people who have two NIN.

“We have a case of a father impersonating his son, writing examination for the son and I wonder, are you not destroying your son’s future? Of course, two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will now tell his son when they are both locked up in the same cell. This happened definitely not in Kaduna, but I don’t want to disclose the state,” he said.

He said JAMB needs support of highly populated states like Lagos, to build mega CBT centres like that of Kaduna, which accommodates 4,000 candidates per day.

He expressed hope that the authorities in Lagos would provide a suitable land for JAMB to build the Mega CBT centre in the city.