JAMB, stakeholders peg 150, 100 as cut-off for admission into uni, poly

Waives UTME for Colleges of Education

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and relevant stakeholders, notably vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts, have unanimously endorsed 150 as the minimum admissible score for the 2026/2027 admission into universities and Colleges of Nursing Sciences.

They also endorsed 100 as the minimum admissible score for admission into polytechnics, while the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has been waived for candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education.

The decision was unanimously endorsed at the 2026 policy meeting of JAMB, attended by vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts, and chaired by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, in Abuja on Monday.

In the 2025/2026 academic session, JAMB and the stakeholders also approved a minimum cut-off mark of 150 for admission into Nigerian universities. Additionally, the minimum score for Colleges of Nursing was 140, while polytechnics, Colleges of Education and Colleges of Agriculture had a minimum cut-off mark of 100.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who chaired the session, explained that institutions were earlier contacted to send in their minimum admissible scores, and confirmed that all institutions, public and private, submitted their individual scores.

Through a voice vote, the heads of institutions unanimously took the decision of 150 for universities and Colleges of Nursing Sciences, while 100 was unanimously endorsed as the minimum admissible score for admission into polytechnics.

Prof. Oloyede maintained that the decision was not exclusively JAMB’s, but a collective one that was unanimously endorsed by all the relevant stakeholders, especially the heads of tertiary institutions.

Meanwhile, it was decided that the admission exercise into public universities will end on October 31, and on November 30 for private universities.