The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will hold its 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions on Monday, May 11, in Abuja, a gathering that will determine the minimum UTME cut-off marks for the 2026/2027 academic session.
The meeting will take place at the Body of Benchers Auditorium, Plot 688, Institute and Research District, FCC Phase III, Jabi, and will bring together vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts, registrars and admission officers, alongside representatives of the National Universities Commission, the National Commission for Colleges of Education and the National Board for Technical Education.
JAMB spokesperson Fabian Benjamin said in a statement on Sunday that the meeting would formally set the tone for the new admission cycle. He said the board’s annual policy meeting is the key forum where stakeholders decide minimum tolerable UTME marks, admission guidelines and the policies that govern tertiary institutions.
Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa is expected to unveil major policy directions at the event, which will also feature goodwill messages from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the National Youth Service Corps. JAMB said the 6th edition of the National Tertiary Admissions Performance-Merit Awards will also be part of the programme.
The meeting matters because it is the point at which the country’s tertiary admission benchmarks are fixed for the year ahead. Once the cut-off marks and guidelines are set, institutions move from planning to execution, and the 2026/2027 admission exercise officially begins.
That is also where the pressure sits. The meeting is designed to bring all the key institutions into the same room and impress on them the need to follow the rules, but the real test comes after the speeches end, when schools must apply the agreed standards in their own admission processes.
For candidates hoping to enter universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, Monday is the day the outline of the next admission season becomes clear. The cut-off marks will not just be discussed; they will be fixed, and JAMB will use the meeting to launch the 2026/2027 process in earnest.
