THE JOINT Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has maintained 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admission into Nigerian universities for the 2026 academic session.

The decision was taken on Monday, May 11, during the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions held in Abuja, where education stakeholders, including the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, and heads of tertiary institutions, were in attendance.

According to JAMB, the resolution followed a voting process involving vice-chancellors present at the meeting. The board noted that after deliberations, the consensus was to retain the existing benchmark for university admissions.

This means that candidates who score 150 and above in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) remain eligible for consideration into universities across the country for the 2026/2027 academic session.

However, institutions are still expected to determine their individual departmental cut-off marks, which may be higher, depending on the competitiveness of courses and available spaces.

THE ICIR earlier reported that the Federal Government announced that UTME would no longer be a requirement for candidates seeking admission into colleges of education in Nigeria.

The minister of education disclosed the policy at the JAMB’s 2026 Policy Meeting.

Under the new arrangement, applicants into colleges of education for Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes were no longer required to sit for the UTME. The policy also extended to candidates applying for Education and Agriculture-related non-engineering courses in colleges of education and polytechnics.

However, the minister clarified that candidates were still expected to meet basic entry requirements, including possession of the required O’Level results and participation in JAMB screening for proper documentation.

He further explained that prospective students would need at least four credits in their O’Level examinations to qualify for admission into NCE programmes.

Alausa stated that the decision was introduced to ease pressure on JAMB and simplify the admission process for students pursuing non-university education pathways.