The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and concerned stakeholders on Tuesday set the minimum Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scores, otherwise known as cut-off marks, for admission into higher institutions across the country for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The cut-off mark for entry into universities was pegged at 150; 100 for both polytechnics and colleges of education, and 140 for colleges of nursing sciences.
“The minimum admissible scores for admissions for the next academic session have been fixed at 150 for universities, 100 for polytechnics, 100 for colleges of education, and 140 for colleges of nursing sciences by the stakeholders,” JAMB said in a statement posted on its official X (formerly Twitter) page on Tuesday.
These agreements were reached by stakeholders, including vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts, and heads of relevant regulatory agencies across the country, at the 2025 JAMB Policy Meeting held in Abuja.
Nigeria News Source gathered that during the policy meeting held at newly renovated and renamed Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, some newly established private universities proposed 120 as the cut-off for university admission, but JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, suggested 160. At the end, 150 was agreed as the cut-off mark for university admission across the country.
The setting of minimum cut-off marks implies that no university, polytechnic, college of education or college of nursing science in the country will be allowed to admit any candidate who scores below the set benchmark in the 2025 UTME. However, institutions are free to raise the bar above the set cut-off marks.
