The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has approved 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian universities for the 2026 academic session following deliberations at its annual policy meeting held in Abuja on Monday.
The decision was reached during the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions, attended by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts and other stakeholders in the education sector.
Under the new arrangement, universities and colleges of nursing sciences will admit candidates who score a minimum of 150 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), while polytechnics and monotechnics will maintain 100 as their minimum admissible score.
Speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Education said the benchmark represents the minimum standard for admission and urged institutions to comply strictly with the approved guidelines.
Registrar of JAMB, Ishaq Oloyede, also clarified that the approved scores were collectively agreed upon by heads of tertiary institutions and not imposed solely by the examination body.
The board further announced timelines for the 2026 admission exercise. Public universities are expected to conclude admissions on or before October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026. Polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education are to complete their admission processes by December 31, 2026.
JAMB warned institutions against conducting admissions outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), stressing that any admission carried out outside the platform would be regarded as illegal.
The policy meeting is an annual gathering where stakeholders in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector decide admission guidelines and minimum entry requirements for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
