In a key decision shaping the next academic calendar, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), in collaboration with heads of tertiary institutions, has approved new minimum cut-off marks for admissions into Nigerian higher institutions. For the 2025/2026 academic session, the admissible scores are set at 150 for universities, 140 for colleges of nursing sciences, and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education.
The decision was formally announced during the 2025 National Policy Meeting on Admissions, held on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja. The annual meeting brings together key education stakeholders across federal, state, and private institutions to deliberate on admission criteria and policy directions for the forthcoming academic year.
The new benchmarks mark a modest upward adjustment from last year’s standards, where the minimum score for university admission stood at 140. The 2025 thresholds reflect a continuing effort to standardise and improve access to higher education while maintaining institutional autonomy in admission selection processes.
A review of historical data on JAMB’s admission cut-off marks over the past decade reveals the fluctuating nature of minimum entry points:
In 2014 and 2015, universities required a minimum score of 180, while polytechnics stood at 150.
By 2017, the threshold dropped dramatically to 120 for universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education, sparking national debate.
The highest university cut-off in recent years remained at 180, used between 2014 and 2016.
From 2018 to 2023, the cut-off ranged between 120 to 160 for universities and 100 to 120 for polytechnics, according to data reported by national media outlets including The Guardian, Punch, NTA, and BusinessDay.
The revised 2025 cut-off of 150 for universities positions this year’s benchmark closer to the pre-2017 standards, indicating a possible shift toward more stringent academic screening. While JAMB provides the national minimum score, institutions retain the discretion to raise their individual requirements in accordance with their admission policies and programme competitiveness.
Stakeholders at the meeting also reiterated the need to balance access with quality, especially as Nigeria continues to experience high demand for university and polytechnic education amid growing population pressures.
The approval of the new cut-off marks sets the tone for the upcoming admission cycle, and institutions are now expected to finalise their internal processes for screening and shortlisting prospective students based on these national guidelines.
