The University Matriculation Examination as a Predictor of Performance in Post University Matriculation Examination: a Model for Educational development in the 21st Century

In the development process of any nation, education occupies a key position in the scheme of things. It is the bedrock of every nation‟s economy and is an indispensable instrument for national development. In fact, that is why most Universities take as their motto: knowledge for service, knowledge for excellence, knowledge for advancement etc which can be described as a “corrective” party of government. The thrust of this paper therefore, is to examine the relative strength and effectiveness of UME as admission criteria for selection into a Nigerian University. The study adopted a correlational design. 500 pairs of scores of candidates in UME and Post UME were obtained using stratified random sampling techniques from five Faculties in University of Benin and analyzed using t-test and simple correlation co-efficient. The results of the study revealed a low and statistically significant correlation r = 0.088 between UME and PUME scores. The relationship between the scores was inverse and there was a significant difference in the scores of UME and PUME (t = 3.51, p <0.05). The study concluded that high marks in UME did not reveal the academic performance of students and that admission based on merit only from the UME scores could bring into the Universities not the best qualified students. Key words: Education, Student, Examination, Nigeria, University, Admission