Admission Into a Physical Therapy Programme in Nigeria: Logic or Lottery?

Abstract

A retrospective study was conducted to determine the viable predictors of academic and clinical performance in a Nigerian physical therapy programme. The records of 50 students admitted to the physical therapy programme of the Obafemi Awolowo University between 1984 and 1989 were reviewed to obtain data pertaining to (1) overall Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination scores, (2) West African School Certificate (WASC) scores in maths, physics, biology, chemistry and English language, and (3) academic and clinical achievement scores at the end of the second, third and fourth years of professional training. JAMB and WASC admission requirements were not related to academic and clinical performances. Our findings suggest that the present criteria used in selecting students into our educational programme should be reviewed.