The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has retained 150 as the minimum admission cut-off mark for universities for the 2026/2027 academic session.
The decision was announced on Monday during JAMB’s annual Policy Meeting on Admissions held in Abuja, where stakeholders in the education sector deliberated on admission guidelines for tertiary institutions nationwide.
According to the board, the benchmark was adopted following a vote by vice-chancellors and other stakeholders present at the meeting.
With the new benchmark, candidates seeking admission into Nigerian universities through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) must score at least 150 to be eligible for consideration by institutions.
JAMB’s annual policy meeting is convened to determine admission procedures, minimum entry requirements and other guidelines for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
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Despite the national minimum benchmark, universities retain the discretion to set higher cut-off marks for highly competitive courses such as Medicine, Law, Pharmacy and Engineering.
The retention of the 150 benchmark comes amid ongoing debates within the education sector over admission standards, access to tertiary education and the quality of candidates seeking university placement.
Stakeholders at the meeting stressed the need to strike a balance between expanding access to higher education and maintaining academic standards in Nigerian universities.
The decision also follows recent reforms introduced by the Federal Government and JAMB aimed at widening admission opportunities, particularly for candidates seeking admission into education and agriculture-related programmes.
Earlier at the meeting, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed that candidates seeking admission into National Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes and some non-engineering agriculture courses would no longer be required to sit for the UTME, provided they meet specified academic qualifications.
