UNILORIN First in Nigeria to Roll Out Computer-Based Clinical Exams for Medical Students

The University of Ilorin has become the first Nigerian university to deploy an electronic Objective Structured Clinical Examination (e-OSCE) for its final MBBS exams, as the institution moves away from paper-based testing toward full computer-based assessment for its medical students.

The system was unveiled by the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and first trialled on 500-level students during their Part II Final MBBS exams, before being rolled out for the ongoing Part III exams involving the final-year class. Dean of the Faculty, Professor Kolawole Wasiu Wahab, announced the development on October 7 at the university's CBT Centre.

Under the new format, picture-based questions and data interpretation tasks, components that used to run at unmanned clinical stations, are now administered directly on computers. According to the Dean, this cuts down on printing and manual marking, speeds up result processing through automatic grading, and solves the long-standing problem of clinical images appearing unevenly on classroom screens, since every student now views materials on their own individual monitor.

Behind the scenes, the Centre for Computer-Based Testing deployed JOTA software to strengthen the reliability and integrity of the exams. Deputy Director Adebayo Lawal said early technical hiccups have been resolved, and that swapping out older computers for higher-performance units would further improve the system going forward.

The platform itself was built in partnership with JKK Oneware Limited, an indigenous tech firm. Managing Director Yusuf Ghaffar said the company engineered a system capable of fully replicating traditional exam conditions electronically, and had to scale up server capacity from one to three hybrid servers to handle the volume of data and high-resolution images the exam requires.

Faculty Officer Is-haaq Abdussalam added that beyond efficiency, the move is expected to improve fairness in assessment, give students easier access to exam materials, and help the faculty cope with its expanding student numbers.