The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other key stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector have approved firm deadlines for the completion of the 2025/2026 admission exercise for tertiary institutions across the country.
The decision was reached during the 2026 JAMB Annual Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions, held in Abuja on Monday, May 11.
The policy meeting brought together vice chancellors, rectors, and other stakeholders in the education sector, all convened to hammer out a uniform, enforceable timetable that would apply to every tertiary institution in the federation.
At the heart of the new policy is a structured, tiered deadline framework that distinguishes between different categories of institutions. Public universities are required to conclude admissions on or before October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026. Polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education are to complete their exercise on or before December 31, 2026.
JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede, a figure who has become synonymous with reform at the board, made clear that this was not a suggestion but a directive.
Oloyede urged institutions to adhere strictly to the approved schedule, warning that once the deadlines expire, any institution that fails to complete its admission process will lose access to candidates for that academic session.
The sanction in question, the revocation of access to the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS), is a significant lever of control, effectively cutting off non-compliant institutions from the national pool of qualified candidates.
The new policy also introduces a tighter framework for candidates themselves.
JAMB announced a four-week grace period for candidates to accept or reject admissions on the CAPS portal. Failure to accept an offer within the four-week window will result in the withdrawal of the offer, making those candidates ineligible for further admission consideration in that session.
This represents a notable tightening of the admission acceptance process, one that experts say is designed to reduce the bottleneck caused by candidates who sit on admission offers indefinitely, blocking spaces that could go to other qualified applicants.
Beyond the deadlines, the policy meeting yielded several other consequential decisions. Candidates seeking admission into universities and colleges of nursing sciences must score at least 150 in the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to be considered for admission, while the minimum admissible score for polytechnics and colleges of education was pegged at 100.
Although the benchmark sets the national minimum, universities and other tertiary institutions are free to adopt higher cut-off marks depending on the competitiveness of their courses and internal admission policies.
On the matter of post-UTME screening, long a source of controversy and alleged exploitation of candidates, institutions wishing to conduct post-UTME screening may do so but must not charge more than ₦2,000.
Furthermore, institutions are prohibited from requesting candidates to upload O-Level results independently, noting that JAMB would provide verified results directly through its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).
The reforms come at a time of mounting pressure on Nigeria’s tertiary education system, which has faced persistent criticism over protracted admission cycles that often leave students in limbo for months and sometimes over a year before gaining entry into institutions.
Candidates have been given four weeks to accept admission offers or risk withdrawal or reassignment, a policy that signals JAMB’s intent to make the process not just faster but more decisive and accountable at every level.
One of the more notable policy shifts announced at the meeting was the exemption of candidates seeking admission into National Certificate in Education (NCE) programs from sitting the UTME, a decision that generated several mixed reactions from Nigerians, with some applauding the move as practical and others warning it could dilute standards in the nation’s teacher training pipeline.
Past policy pronouncements by JAMB have not always translated into on-the-ground implementation, with many institutions historically operating outside stipulated admission windows with little consequence.
The introduction of CAPS access revocation as a penalty, however, may represent a more credible enforcement mechanism than has existed before.
With the 2026 policy meeting’s resolutions now in force, the coming months will test whether the institutions themselves are willing to match the board’s ambition for a more disciplined and transparent system or whether old habits will again prevail.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Nigeria’s admissions body, JAMB, has drawn a firm line in the sand: tertiary institutions must complete admissions on time or lose access to the national pool of candidates entirely.
Public universities face an October 31 deadline, private universities November 30, and polytechnics and colleges of education December 31, 2026.
Candidates, too, are on the clock, with just four weeks to accept any offer or risk losing it permanently, along with their chances of being considered for admission in that cycle.
