The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the Vice-Chancellor of Nigerian universities have agreed on 140 as the minimum score for admission to the 2023/2024 academic session in universities across the country. This was disclosed on Saturday by the JAMB registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, during a presentation at the 2023 Policy Meeting on Higher Education Admissions and Awards held in Abuja. Oloyede said the university is free to decide the cutoff marks for each individual, but he said no university will be allowed to admit an applicant whose marks fall below 140 marks. For example, the University of Jos recommended 180 as the threshold for admission. The University of Ibadan gave 200; The University of Benin gave 200, The University of Lagos gave 200; and the Federal University of Technology has given 180, among others. The Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos was the only university that gave the highest score of 220, while about 15 universities, mostly in the private sector, recommended that the score be lowered to 120, a move that was rejected. Meanwhile, JAMB at the Policy Conference in Abuja has set the post-UTME examination fee at N2,000. Oloyede, who made the announcement, said that no company will be allowed to charge candidates any other expenses related to the selection process, such as administrative and bank fees. Select paraphrasing level
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejoh, said, “We have heard the voices of the majority. Most of the universities have agreed and the decision stands that 140 is the minimum benchmark for university admissions.”Oloyede also noted that the minimum cut-off score for polytechnics was 100 for admissions, while Colleges of Education adopted the benchmark of 100 for admissions. He said, ‘’“Any institution interested in conducting any form of screening could do so, but the charge for the screening should not exceed N2,000 only. “It is not allowed for any institution to make candidates directly or indirectly incur further related expenses on screening exercises, such as administrative and bank charges. “JAMB will provide for free, to all institutions access to photo images and fingerprint data of candidates, in order to curb the substitution of candidates who sat for the examinations.”
