The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has pegged the minimum score, cut-off marks, for 2022 admission into tertiary institutions at 140 for universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education respectively.
JAMB reached the decision at a joint policy meeting with vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics, provosts of colleges of education, registrars and other critical stakeholders in the nation’s higher education subsector, presided by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who announced the cut-off marks after a thorough debate by heads of tertiary institutions in the country said every institution now has 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.
Recall that in 2021, JAMB gave individual tertiary institutions the leeway to adopt their own cut-off marks, but the 2022 policy meeting reversed the policy, mandating institutions to have uniform cut-off marks for 2022 admissions.
Oloyede also led stakeholders to agree on the review of admission criteria to give 10 per cent discretional powers on admission to heads of tertiary institutions in order to meet the demands from their immediate environment.
He noted that the merit quota for federal universities remains 45 per cent while that of the state universities falls between indigene quota and national quota.
A resolution was also reached at the meeting that all admissions into all public institutions and private institutions across the country for both Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, for the 2022/2023 academic session should be concluded on 31st December.
Speaking on illegal admissions, the board warned that from 2020, it had put an end to regularisation of candidates’ admissions and that necessary measures would be put in place to track and sanction all culpable Heads of Institutions irrespective of whether they are or not still in office.
Earlier, the Minister of Education, Adamu, had disclosed that JAMB, under Prof Ishaq Oloyede has so far remitted about N29 billion directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, CRF.
He said the board has also granted over N1 billion to the institutions, expended more than N2 billion on capital projects, reserved N6 billion for future expansion of the board and has, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, provided social services such as funding the freighting and delivery of donated critical hospital equipment to 12 Teaching Hospitals at a cost of $257,000 and N47 million.
“Just as in the previous admissions exercises, the admissions criteria still remain as approved and circulated. All institutions must therefore adhere strictly to them and all others prescribed by the regulatory bodies such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), particularly with regards to approved quotas, ratios and other specifications meant for improved quality, accountability and equity,” he said.
On flexibility in the admission, Adamu stated that during the 2021 Policy Meeting, he “advised tertiary institutions to adopt a more flexible posture in the admissions process provided all actions are in compliance with the guidelines. One size fits all is injurious, hence, the statutory stipulations that in the exercise of its functions, JAMB should not obliterate the peculiarities and unique features of each of the Institutions.
“In 2017, we introduced the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) to eradicate the primeval activities around admission procedures towards nuzzling transparencies and accountabilities on admissions. It was on this note that it was mandated that all admissions to tertiary institutions in Nigeria must be carried out on the CAPS.
“This implies that all applications for regular and non-regular admissions to tertiary institutions must be routed through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in conformity with its enabling law. I am aware that JAMB issues specific Advisories to guide different aspects of the process. I therefore urge every Institution to comply with those advisories in the interest of the sector.
“By the last policy meeting, I had approved that all illegitimate admissions from 2017 to 2020 be condoned provided such candidates met the minimum entry qualifications in their various courses of study. I am aware that the process led the affected institutions to declare about one million illegitimate admissions for the periods.”