JAMB adopts 140 as minimum cut-off mark for 2024 varsity admissions

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has adopted 140 as the minimum Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) cut-off mark for admission into universities in 2024.

At its 2024 policy meeting in Abuja on Thursday, the board also adopted 100 for polytechnic and college of education admissions this year.

JAMB hosts an annual policy meeting to set the tone and guidelines for any given year’s admission cycle.

At the meeting, tertiary institution stakeholders meet and agree on a set of admission requirements which JAMB then adopts.

The adoption prevents cases where individual institutions arbitrarily stray from pre-set guidelines during an admission run.

Although institutions can set higher admission marks during competitive cycles, they can not go below the adopted minimums.

At the meeting, Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, said no institution must admit candidates below the minimum cut-off for their category.

He said institutions are also mandated to adhere to the requirements stipulated in the Central Admissions Processing Systems (CAPS).

“Any vice chancellor, provost, or rector discovered to have effected any admission outside CAPS would be severely sanctioned,” he said.

“Such under-the-table admissions contradict the data-driven approach outlined in the four focal areas of the education roadmap of the federal ministry of education.”

Oloyede said all institutions must implement other criteria prescribed by the National University Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the National Council for Colleges of Education (NCCE) as appropriate.

He said this is with particular reference to admission quotas, ratios, and specifications meant to achieve quality, accountability, and equity.