The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has approved 150 as the minimum admission benchmark for universities for the 2026 admission exercise. The decision was reached on Monday during the 2026 Annual Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions held in Abuja, with key stakeholders in the education sector in attendance.
The benchmark, officially referred to as the National Minimum Tolerable UTME Score, means that no university is allowed to admit candidates who score below 150 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
However, individual institutions retain the right to set higher cut-off marks for their admission processes. The benchmark was adopted after deliberations and voting by heads of tertiary institutions, including vice-chancellors and other stakeholders.
Last year, universities also adopted 150 as the minimum benchmark, while polytechnics and colleges of education maintained 100 as their cut-off mark. The development comes amid ongoing discussions on admission standards and reforms in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
More details are expected to emerge from the policy meeting.
