The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other stakeholders in the tertiary education sector have approved cut-off mark for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country for 2022 admission.
The decisions on the cut-off marks were reached after a heated session at the 2022 Policy Meeting on Admissions to Degree, Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) and National Diploma (ND) ongoing at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
The meeting which was chaired by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, comprised officials from JAMB, the Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission, and the National Board for Technical Education among others.
The meeting approved 140 as the minimum cut-off mark for 2022 admission into the nation’s universities, while the cut-off for polytechnics and colleges of education was pegged at 100.
The JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who announced the cut-off marks after deliberations by vice-chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education, said the implication was that every institution had the right to fix its own cut-off mark even up to 220 but no one would be allowed to go less than the agreed minimum marks for these tertiary institutions.
Part of the resolutions at the stakeholders meeting is, “Every institution is at liberty to determine the minimum UTME score acceptable to it for admission. Similarly, for Direct Entry admissions, each institution will determine the number of points required by it for direct entry admission. Nevertheless, no institution can recommend or admit any candidate with less than two points for direct entry.
“In the same vein, no institution can admit/accept the transfer of a candidate for any degree programme unless the candidate has spent on full-time, not less than two consecutive sessions in the institution.”
The meeting also resolved that “no institution will be allowed to recommend or admit any candidate whose total score is below the minimum score proposed by the institution and approved by the Policy Meeting. The totality of all scores being used for the ranking of the candidate shall be taken into account in determining the percentage minimum score.”
The meeting also called for the review of admission criteria to give 10% discretional power of admission to heads of tertiary institutions.
Tertiary institutions warned against illegal admissions
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in his opening remarks warned Nigerian tertiary institutions against illegal admissions, saying all admissions into the nation’s universities, Polytechnic and colleges of education must be processed through the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS).
Adamu said any head of tertiary institution found engaging in illegal admissions would be prosecuted even if the infractions are detected after their tenures.