The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has retained 150 as the minimum cut-off mark for admission into Universities in Nigeria for 2026/2027 academic session.
The decision was announced on Monday 11th May, 2026 during JAMB’s 2026 annual Policy Meeting on Admissions held in Abuja where key stakeholders gathered to deliberate on admission guidelines for tertiary institutions across the country.
According to the board, the benchmark was adopted following a vote by vice-chancellors present at the meeting.
The cut-off mark retained by the board means candidates seeking admission into the Nigerian universities through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) must score at least 150 to qualify for consideration by the institutions.
While 150 remains the national minimum benchmark approved by the stakeholders during the meeting, individual universities are expected to retain the discretion to set higher cut-off marks for specific competitive courses such as Medicine, Law, Pharmacy and Engineering.
Heads of tertiary institutions in Nigeria present at the meeting also unanimously agreed that the minimum admissible scores for admission into Colleges of Nursing should be 150, while Polytechnics should set theirs at 100.
Earlier at the meeting, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed that candidates seeking admission into Nigeria Certificate in Education programme and some non-engineering agriculture courses would no longer be required to sit for the UTME, provided they meet specified qualifications.
JAMB’s Policy Meeting is convened annually to determine admission procedures, minimum entry requirements and other guidelines for universities, Polytechnics and colleges of education.