The federal government has approved the minimum admission marks at 150 for both private and public universities in Nigeria.
Tunji Alausa, the minister of education, announced the decision at the ongoing 2026 admission policy meeting of the education stakeholders organised in Abuja by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The federal government also set 150 as minimum admission cut off mark for colleges of nursing across the country.
The committee placed the cut-off mark for polytechnics at 100, noting that any institution that admits below the agreed benchmark would be sanctioned.
It was also stated at the meeting that any institution that wants to screen candidates is free to do so but must not charge more than N2,000.
On further admission guidelines, the committee set a 60:40 ratio for conventional universities and colleges of education, noting that their admissions must reflect 60 percent science courses and 40 percent arts courses.
The committee, however, pegged that of specialised universities and polytechnics at 80:20.
At the 2025 admission policy meeting held in July, JAMB set 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admissions into universities.
The minimum cut-off for colleges of nursing was set at 140, colleges of agriculture at 100, and colleges of education at 100.
After the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) each year, JAMB holds the admission policy meeting to agree on student intake criteria for the year.
At the policy meetings, tertiary institutions propose cut-off marks for their re
spective categories, which are then deliberated on and approved.
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
