Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has explained that the Board does not set the so-called ‘cut-off mark’, which should, at the very least, be correctly referred to as the “minimum tolerable admission score,” as it is insinuated in some circles.
According to Jamb bulletin, the Registrar stated that the explanation was necessary to correct the erroneous impression that JAMB determined minimum tolerable admission scores for respective institutions, stating that it is the responsibility of tertiary institutions to determine their respective institutional minimum tolerable admission scores.
He went on to say that the policy meetings resulted in benchmark national minimum tolerable admission scores for admittance to the nation’s tertiary institutions.
This score, according to him, is the minimum score that a candidate who took the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) must attain to be admitted to Nigerian tertiary institutions, noting that what JAMB does is simply publicise it and ensure that the institution does not go below that.
Furthermore, he stated that the minimum tolerable score is a pruning mechanism that reduces the number of applications to a manageable size, allowing candidates to compete for available spots in the nation’s higher institutions.
In the same vein, he argued that it is erroneous for parents or candidates to make claims of attaining the minimum tolerable score and as such should be allowed automatic admission, adding that the minimum score was simply a benchmark and not for automatic placement of candidates for admission as there are other variables and parameters to be considered.
It is to be recalled that participants at the 2024 Policy Meeting on Admission had approved the National Minimum Tolerable UTME Score (NTMUS), for the 2024 Admission into the nation’s higher institutions as 140 for universities while 100 was approved for polytechnics and colleges of education and innovative enterprises institutions.
Earlier, the Registrar had explained that the institutions, which proposed lower minimum tolerable scores, would have to increase their benchmarks to the agreed minimum tolerable points.
He did, however, emphasise that institutions have the option to set the institutional tolerable score higher than the established minimum points.
It is also worth noting that Pan-Atlantic University, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, set its minimum admissible score at 220, while some other universities set theirs at 200.
However, no institution could fall below the approved minimum tolerable scores of 140 and 100 as specified for their category.