The Federal Government has approved 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian universities for the 2026 academic session, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, announced on Monday at the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions in Abuja.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who presided over the meeting, confirmed that the decision was unanimously adopted by stakeholders from tertiary institutions across the country. “The federal government has pegged the minimum admission marks at 150 for both private and public universities in Nigeria,” Alausa said.
The committee also fixed 150 as the minimum admission cut-off mark for colleges of nursing across the country. Polytechnics, colleges of education and colleges of agriculture will admit candidates with a minimum UTME score of 100.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, reiterated that the approved scores are minimum benchmarks and institutions are not permitted to admit candidates below the thresholds. “The minimum admissible scores for admissions for the next academic session have been fixed at 150 for universities, 100 for polytechnics, 100 for colleges of education and 140 for colleges of nursing sciences by the stakeholders,” Oloyede said.
The policy meeting further stated that any institution that admits below the agreed benchmark would be sanctioned. It was also agreed that institutions are free to screen candidates but must not charge more than N2,000 for post-UTME screening.
On admission guidelines, the committee set a 60:40 ratio for conventional universities and colleges of education, requiring 60 percent science courses and 40 percent arts courses in their admissions. For specialised universities and polytechnics, the ratio was pegged at 80:20.
Alausa and Oloyede had initially proposed 160 as the minimum score for universities, and 120 or above for polytechnics and colleges of education, but their proposal was overruled by the majority of stakeholders. “The Minister and JAMB Registrar said they had wanted 160 as minimum score for university, and perhaps, 120 or above for Polytechnic and Colleges of Education but their choice was overruled by the large voices of stakeholders,” the report noted.
The minister reminded stakeholders that the decision was not JAMB’s but that of vice chancellors, rectors, provosts and other relevant individuals. “Nobody should query JAMB for the decision on cut-off point,” Alausa said.
Oloyede added that institutions are at liberty to choose higher scores as submitted to JAMB before the Policy Meeting, but are not allowed to admit any candidate below the agreed national minimum. “The decision on cut-off at the Policy Meeting implies that they are not allowed to admit a candidate with score below the agreed score,” he said.
In another policy shift, JAMB announced that candidates seeking admission into Education programmes and Agriculture non-engineering courses will no longer be required to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. “Candidates seeking admissions into Education Programmes and Agriculture non-Engineering Courses are now exempted from UTME,” JAMB stated.
The minister also confirmed that the Federal Government has retained 16 years as the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions, effective from the 2025/2026 academic session. He warned that any admission conducted outside the Central Admission Processing System, CAPS, would be illegal and perpetrators would be prosecuted.
The stakeholders set admission deadlines of October 31, 2025, for public universities, November 30, 2025, for private universities, and December 31, 2025, for polytechnics and colleges of education.
The new cut-off marks mark a shift from the 2025 admission policy meeting where universities had a minimum of 150, colleges of nursing 140, and colleges of agriculture and education 100.
