By Felix Khanoba
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has fixed the cut-off mark for admission into university and other tertiary education institutions in the country for the 2020/2021 academic session.
The Board said for any candidate to qualify for admission into any university, such a person must have scored 160 and above in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who made this known at the end of the 2020 Policy Meeting on admission in Abuja on Tuesday, also announced 120 as the cut-off mark for those seeking admission into polytechnics and colleges of education while that of innovative institutions was pegged at 100 and above.
The virtual Policy Meeting attracted heads of tertiary institutions in the country, with the physical presence of the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and other relevant officials.
The JAMB boss warned institutions against charging more than N2,000 in their admission screening exercise.
Speaking on 2019 admission, Prof. Oloyede 612,557 candidates were offered admission while 510,957 admission spaces were unused.
On his part, Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who chaired the meeting, okayed the commencement of admission for the 2020/2021 academic session slated to begin in August.
Represented by the Minister of State for Education, Nwajiuba, Adamu urged JAMB and tertiary institutions to consider candidates with previous years Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results and other qualifications to proceed with the admission process.
He said the government will put in place arrangements that will accommodate applicants who will be taking SSCE this year.
His words: “As major stakeholders, we must jointly come up with reactions that would realign our programmes to these new realities.
“While these reactions are being fine-tuned to check their capacities and capabilities to withstand the new reality, JAMB and tertiary institutions could take advantage of the current situation and consider candidates with previous years Senior School Certificate Examination and other qualifying results, to proceed on with the admission process.
“Whatever arrangement that the country comes up with in the long run, will surely accommodate those who will be taking the examination when the opportunity to do so is worked out.”
