THE controversy surrounding the legality of the universities to conduct post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) has finally been settled, as the Senate, on Thursday, gave it a legal backing, describing it as legal and legitimate.

It also fixed the amount to be paid by a candidate sitting for post-UTME at N6,000, instructing that out of the amount, N4,000 should go to Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), while the remaining N2,000 should go to the university.

“Internally generated revenue should be an integral component of an institution’s yearly budget statement. Admission fees should be a cost item in the budget,” the Senate said.

These were part of the report of its Committee on Education, which investigated the alleged illegality in the conduct of post-UTME examination, as it insisted that it could not sustain any charge of illegality against the examination.

The committee, led by Senator Uche Chukwu-merije, recommended the ban on collection of extra levies on some special courses like medicine, engineering and law.

Senate adopted the recommendation that state and private universities should be persuaded to accept the proposal for N6,000 admissions ceiling, as it mandated the relevant authorities to adjust the examination schedules of relevant secondary schools and JAMB.

Equally, it passed a vote of confidence in JAMB, but banned all “miracle centres” or JAMB special centres nationwide.