Official Guidelines On Filling ABU PG Application Forms
This is an official guideline to applicants on filling and submitting ABU PG Application Form Online for PGD, MSc, MPhil and PhD Programmes
All application forms into the various ABU PG programs are purchased, filled, submitted and processed online. This document contains official instructions and useful guidelines to all candidates wishing to fill and submit ABU’s application forms online for ABU PG programs.
Applicants, their referees, as well as cyber cafe operators, are strongly advised to carefully go through this document and follow the instructions in order to ensure an error-free completion and submission of the ABU PG application form
The ABU PG application forms portal
ABU School of Postgraduate Studies offers various PG programs at Postgraduate Diploma (PGD), Masters, MPhil and PhD levels. The ABU PG application portal provides a platform for anyone wishing to study at any level of postgraduate studies to purchase the application form, fill the form and submit the completed form online.
Accessing the ABU PG application forms portal
The ABU PG application forms portal can be used by anyone who falls into any of these categories of people:
- All prospective applicants into ABU PG School
- All persons specified as referees by prospective applicants
- All authorized staff of ABU PG School, MIS Office, the University Management, as well as relevant members of the development team.
- Appropriately authorized staff of all participating banks can also access the PG application forms portal using a different module known as PayEazy, which manages all categories of fees payable by applicants and students of the University – including application form fees.
The portal URL (Web address)
The ABU PG application forms portal can be accessed by connecting to the Internet and going to http://forms.abu.edu.ng. Please do not add any “www” when typing the URL in the browser’s address bar.
Starting the PG application process
Before filling and submitting the PG online application form, applicants must first create an account on the portal. Around the top right corner of the landing page (see Fig. 1) where there is Start Application instructions, click the ‘Create an Account’ button to get started. The account creation page shown in Fig. 2 should open.
Creating applicant’s unique portal access account
Creating an account simply involves selecting the application and programme type the applicant is interested in (e.g. Masters, PhD or Postgraduate Diploma). The applicant’s surname, first name and other names (if they have that many) must be typed in as well as their GSM phone number, email address and a log in password.
This first step for filling the form is illustrated in Fig. 3, for a candidate who wishes to study MSc Computer Science (Full Time).
IMPORTANT WARNING: All information supplied at this step (and at all other steps) must be for the applicant. Most applicants rely on commercial cyber café outlets to fill their application forms. This is perfectly okay and acceptable, so long as the correct data is filled in for the applicant.
A lot of problems arise however when applicants just drop their money and data with the café operators and go away, hoping that the café operators will fill in the data correctly.
But our statistics have shown that the majority of applicants who just drop their data with somebody to fill for them often end up having wrong or incomplete data filled for them – thus instantly disqualifying them from being considered for admission.
Applicants are strongly advised to always, always stay with whoever is filling their data for them and ensure that their data is filled correctly and completely. Neither ABU PG School nor the ABU Portal Development Team shall be held liable for the failure of any applicant to submit correct and complete data
We emphasize once more that:
- The email supplied must be that of the applicant, not that of the person helping the applicant to fill the form. The email supplied here is what the applicant will use to login to the portal subsequently. The portal will also always use that email to automatically communicate with the applicant as the admission is being processed, and it can never be changed once submitted. Applicants who do not have working emails are advised to reactivate their email accounts or open a new one before coming to create an account on the portal.
- The GSM phone number supplied must be that of the applicant, not that of the person helping the applicant to fill the form. The portal will always use that GSM phone number to send automatic SMS alerts to the applicant right from after the account is created to when payment is made at the bank to when the applicant is offered admission and so on. Supplying someone else’s phone number means the applicant’s information will always be sent to someone else!
- Finally, all information entered at the account creation stage cannot be changed once submitted. Please double-check the programme selected, name spellings, phone number and email before you push the ‘Create Account’ button!
Applicant’s unique Transaction ID and paying at the bank
Once the account creation page is correctly filled and the account is successfully created, the portal displays a ‘Bank Payment Slip’ page which contains a unique Transaction ID for the applicant as well as information about the type of form the applicant is purchasing and the amount they are to pay for the form. Fig. 4 shows these details for our sample applicant in this guide:
To print the Bank Payment Slip click the ‘Preview and Print Transaction Slip’ button; after which the applicant should proceed to any of the banks listed on the landing page of the portal and make payment.
The bank staff will provide the account number and account name to the applicant at the point of payment. Please note that apart from the N10,000.00 form fee, the bank will charge a certain token amount as bank administrative charges. The amount charged may range from N200.00 to N500.00.
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It will be noticed from Fig. 4 that there are ten other tab options after the Bank Payment Slip page (Biodata, O-Levels, A-Levels, Employments, and so on). Applicants can continue on to those other tabs only after making payment at any of the designated banks. Any attempt to go to any of those tabs without making a payment will be automatically checkmated by the portal; and a message as shown in Fig. 5 will be displayed:
NOTE: Sometimes, the bank you pay at may not immediately commit the transaction after you pay; hence you will still not be able to continue filling your application form. This is purely a matter of bank policy or logistic expediency; and applicants may sometimes need to wait for up to 48 hours after payment before they will be able to proceed with their application.
For applicants who are residents outside Nigeria, you may have to make arrangements with someone in Nigeria to help you make the payment; as the portal currently does not support international payment transactions.
Filling details of applicant’s basic biodata
The biodata page requires the applicant to type such basic information as gender, date of birth, place of birth, nationality and so on. The applicant’s passport photo may also be uploaded at this time. Supply the applicant’s basic biodata information as required and click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.
Filling details of applicant’s O-Levels qualifications
This is where applicants should enter their O-Level results. A maximum of two sittings is allowed. In any case, applicants must enter a minimum of five subjects in their O-levels, otherwise, they shall not be able to submit the form at the final stage. Fig. 8 illustrates the Olevel entries for our sample applicant (he has only one sitting in this case).
Filling details of applicant’s A-Levels qualifications
The A-Levels tab enables applicants to enter details of all qualifications they have obtained after secondary school O-Levels. These include IJMB, NCE, ND, HND, first degree and all other academic qualifications obtained before the current one they wish to apply for.
For Ph.D. applicants, a minimum M.Sc. CGPA of 3.0 is required. Details of A-Level qualifications can be added one at a time. Fig. 9 illustrates the A-Level entries for our sample applicant (he has three a-level qualifications in this case).
Filling details of applicant’s professional qualifications
The A-Levels tab enables also enables applicants to enter details of any number of professional qualifications they have obtained up to the time of applying for this admission. Applicants are advised to supply details of all their professional qualifications to boost their chances of admission.
The blue highlight in Fig. 9 shows the link to click in order to open the page for entering details of professional qualifications; which can be added one at a time.
Filling details of applicant’s employment history
This step requires applicants to supply information about all employments they have had up to the time of applying for this admission. Applicants are advised to supply details of all their employment histories to boost their chances of admission.
Details of employment histories can be added one at a time. Fig. 11 illustrates the employment entries for our sample applicant:
Filling details of applicant’s previous theses and projects
On this page, applicants are expected to provide information about all projects, theses and/or other publications they have worked on after their senior secondary school education. Details of theses or projects and other publications can be added one at a time. Fig. 12 illustrates the theses/projects details for our sample applicant:
Filling details of applicant’s proposed area of PG research
All applicants are required to indicate their proposed area of research if granted admission for their postgraduate studies. For PhD applicants, a research proposal is also required; which should be prepared as a Microsoft Word (97 – 2003) document and uploaded.
The proposal should be typed and set in Times New Roman font, size 14pt, double line-spaced, and should not exceed 70KB in size. Fig. 13 illustrates the proposed research topic and area of specialization details for our sample applicant:
Filling details of other required information
On this page, applicants are required to supply information about any academic awards or prizes won, how they would pay their school fees, if they are currently running any other academic programmes and so on.
Filling details of applicant’s referees
Each applicant shall be required to supply details of exactly three (3) referees in connection with their application. At least two of the referees must be persons who have taught the applicant in school at one time or the other.
Referees must have different emails and phone numbers. Referees would be notified automatically through SMS and email and they shall be required to submit their assessment or comments on the applicant online.
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Applicants are strongly advised to first contact all their three referees and get their correct email and phone numbers before filling this page; as wrong referee emails or phone numbers would mean sending the request to the wrong quarters and thus, potentially cutting down the applicant’s chances of being considered for admission.
What applicant’s referees will see
Each referee added by an applicant will receive an automatic email in the inbox of their email address as provided by the applicant. The referee is expected to click on the link at the bottom of the contents of the email so that the PG eForms portal will open and they will be able to fill their comments about the applicant.
Fig. 16 shows the page displayed for one of the referees specified by our sample applicant:
Uploading applicant’s passport-size photo
All applicants should upload their recent passport-size photographs. The photo should not be more than three (3) months old and should be sharp and clear, measuring approximately 185 pixels by 220 pixels. The photo should be in JPEG format and should not exceed 100KB in size.
Reviewing applicant’s form, making a declaration and submitting finally
The declaration page is the final step where applicants finally submit the form after checking the declaration checkbox. If there are any important data items that have not been filled by the applicant, a bold message in red colour will be displayed, asking the applicant to go back to the appropriate tab and fix the missing or invalid data.
Applicants are strongly advised to review all information they have entered on each tab before submitting the form finally. Once the form is finally submitted, applicants may no longer be able to make changes to their form
Upon clicking the ‘Submit Finally’ button, the applicant will receive an SMS confirmation message and the completed form will be displayed in a printable version which the applicant is encouraged to print and keep.
IMPORTANT: Applicants who have their first degree or other post-secondary school
qualifications from schools other than ABU Zaria are to request their former schools to send official transcripts of their academic records to The Secretary, School of Postgraduate Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria within the shortest time possible.
Monitoring application status after submission
After submitting the form finally, applicants can always log in to the portal at any time to check their admission status. Upon logging in, applicants will be taken to their completed form and they will be able to clearly see their admission status at the top of the page where their information begins.
Compiled By: University Software Development Committee, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria
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