Securing admission into a Nigerian tertiary institution is a different process than in most other countries worldwide. After your secondary school education, you’ll need to write your final certificate exams for your high school certificate.

However, if you intend to further your education by securing admission into a polytechnic, university, or college of education, you must write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The exam is also popularly referred to as ‘JAMB’ after the exam’s organizer: Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB).

The ‘JAMB’ examination tests an aspirant on four subjects graded over 400 marks. Historically, schools will set cut-off marks for JAMB, the minimum score you must get to be considered for admission in that specific learning institution.

The cut-off marks for JAMB differ on what course an aspirant intends to study and in which school they want to study. For example, a University of Ilorin Law hopeful will have a completely different cut-off mark requirement than an agriculture aspirant in the same school. There’s also the indigenization advantage, a completely different discussion we’ll discuss later.

With that said, this article will focus on helping you understand the concept of cut off marks for JAMB and what it is for your dream school. Before that, however, let’s talk more about JAMB and cut-off marks.

What are the Cut Off Marks for JAMB 2023?

As explained earlier, the cut-off marks for JAMB will depend on the specific institution and the course the student intends to study. While there are other deciding factors like indigenization, they only apply in special cases and are out of the scope of this article.

In the 2021/2022 academic session, the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) introduced a new unified cut-off mark system that set a minimum score a student must accumulate in the UTME examinations before they can be considered for admission.

If you’re confused, here’s an explanation: before 2022, schools could set their cut off marks for JAMB to as low as possible, and that system eventually became abused. Since private schools struggle to get students, they bring their cut off marks for JAMB to as low as possible, admitting seemingly unqualified students for university education.

To checkmate that, JAMB adopted a unified base cut-off mark system, requiring students to meet the cut-off marks to be considered for admission. If you get less than JAMB’s stipulated cut-off mark for the year, your only option is to wait for the following year or switch to a lower-class institution.

JAMB’s unified minimum cut-off marks differ for universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and innovative enterprising institutes (other lower-level tertiary institutions in the country). If you don’t meet the cut-off marks for a university, for example, you can change your preferred institution to a polytechnic, college of education, or IEI, depending on your UTME score.

To be clear, meeting the base cut-off marks for JAMB won’t guarantee admission for any student, as UTME is a ranking examination. Your institution will choose the highest scorers that applied to their institution for that particular year, which explains why you may not make the list of admitted students despite making their cut-off marks.

Over the next few sections, we’ll look at the general cut-off marks for federal and state universities, private universities, federal and state polytechnics, private polytechnics, and colleges of education.

Federal Universities Cut Off Marks for JAMB

From a UTME cut-off mark point of view, federal universities have always been the most challenging category of tertiary institutions to get admitted to, no thanks to the insane competition. The baseline cut-off mark is the same for federal and state universities, but you typically have to score much higher to get a chance in the former.

The UTME cut-off mark for federal universities in Nigeria is 140, but that’s the bare minimum; it’s technically impossible to secure admission to any federal university in Nigeria with a 140 UTME score without involving other factors.

As expected, most federal universities set different thresholds for aspirants to meet for consideration. If your desired school has a higher requirement than you got, you may have to switch or wait for another year to retake the examinations.

With that said, here are the JAMB cut-off marks for popular federal universities nationwide.

University of Abuja (Gwagwalada) – 180
University of Calabar – 180
Usman Danfodiyo University – 180
The Federal University of Technology, Minna – 180
Federal University, Dutsin-Ma – 180
University of Ilorin – 180
University of Lagos – 200
University of Port Harcourt – 180
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife – 200
University of Nigeria, Nsukka – 200

Analyzing the figures above, you’ll observe that the minimum score required to enter any federal university in Nigeria is 180, and it can go as high as 200, depending on your dream school. You should note that these are the minimum figures; if you’re looking to study a competitive course, you may not be considered for admission, even when you score higher than the threshold.

However, most federal universities will offer you an alternative admission if you don’t meet the requirements for the course you’d like to study, but you did well enough to make it into the school.

State Universities Cut Off Marks for JAMB

State universities are typically more expensive to attend than federal universities, despite having generally worse infrastructure and a lower quality teaching and learning environment compared to their federal counterparts. These drawbacks make state universities unattractive to many students, bringing down the competition and the cut-off marks for JAMB.

The baseline UTME cut-off mark for state universities is the same as that of federal universities, 140, but the practical cut-off mark is much lower. As seen earlier, you need a UTME score of at least 180 to make it into any federal university in Nigeria, and it’s largely the same for state universities.

However, someone who scored exactly 180 on the examination will have a much better chance of trying to get into a state university than a federal university, thanks to the lower competition. Also, you’ll struggle to find a state university with a 200 cut-off mark, which is not the case with federal universities.

With that said, here are the cut-off marks for JAMB for some popular Nigerian state universities.

Anambra State University of Science and Technology – 180
Ekiti State University – 180
Kaduna State University – 180
Osun State University – 180
The Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso – 180
Enugu State University of Science and Technology – 180
Imo State University – 180
Delta State University – 180
Kogi State University – 180
Rivers State University of Science and Technology – 180

If your UTME cut-off mark is above 180 but not up to 200, you may want to consider switching to a state university for a better chance of getting your desired course. Unless you stay in the Federal Capital Territory, you likely have a state university closer to you than a federal university, which is another plus.

Private Universities Cut Off Marks for JAMB

There are more private universities than state or federal universities in Nigeria, creating stiff competition within the space. Many Nigerians avoid private universities for the cost and restrictive environment, but there’s a market for private universities, thanks to the incessant ASUU strikes.

For the uninitiated, ASUU means “Academic Staff Union of Universities,” a union for lecturers of both federal and state universities. While they’ve recorded many wins for the Nigerian tertiary education sector, the Nigerian government doesn’t always play too nicely with them, and they typically respond to the government’s nonchalance to lecturers’ welfare with strikes.

The appeal of private universities is that their lecturers don’t join ASUU strikes, as most of the issues the union has with the government don’t affect private universities. Another reason you may consider private universities is their relatively low cut-off marks for JAMB.

Since there are so many private universities in Nigeria with few students willing to attend them, they try to make entry easy by reducing the requirements, resulting in the low cut-off marks typically associated with private universities.

For proper understanding, here are examples of the JAMB cut-off marks for some popular private universities in Nigeria.

Babcock University – 170
Baze University, Abuja – 160
Ajayi Crowther University – 160
Madonna Univeristy, Okija – 160
Lead City University, Ibadan – 150
Fountain University, Osogbo – 140
Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti – 180
Veritas University, Abuja – 180
Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin – 160
Godfrey Okoye University, Urgwuomu-Nike – 160

Before the mandatory baseline score by JAMB, many private universities admit students that scored way less than the 140 mark, and some still do in illegal admission schemes. If your score isn’t high enough for a federal or state university, you should consider changing to a private university.

Polytechnics Cut-Off Marks for JAMB (State and Federal)

A polytechnic is what most Nigerians attend when they can’t afford the luxury of attending a private university. It appeals to the same demographic as a private university: students avoiding ASUU strikes or those with a UTME score too low to meet the requirements of their first choice federal or state university. While polytechnic lecturer unions go on strike, it’s not nearly as common as ASUU strikes.

As with universities, there are federal, state, and private polytechnics here, but we’ll bundle the first two categories here to speed things up. Without further ado, here are some popular state and federal polytechnics across the country and their cut off marks for JAMB.

Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna – 150
Auchi Polytechnic – 150
Federal Polytechnic Offa – 150
Federal Polytechnic, Nekede – 150
Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti – 150
Abia State Polytechnic – 150
Delta State Polytechnic – 150
Rivers State Polytechnic – 150
Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria – 150
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic – 150

The competition at the average Nigerian polytechnic isn’t fierce, but you also don’t have a diverse selection of programs. If a federal or state polytechnic sounds like an awesome idea for you, a 150 UTME score is enough to get you into one.

Private Polytechnics Cut Off Marks for JAMB

The 150 cut-off marks you’re seeing above shouldn’t distract you from the fact that the cut-off mark for a polytechnic, as stipulated by JAMB, remains 110. State and federal polytechnics only raise the bar because they’re typically more competitive than private ones.

With that said private polytechnics will accommodate students with insanely low cut-off marks, with some even going below the 110 guidelines (illegally, of course).

Without more ado, here are the UTME cut-off marks for some popular private polytechnics in Nigeria.

Al-Hikma Polytechnic Karu – 120
Ajayi Polytechnic, Ikere-Ekiti – 120
Covenant Polytechnic, Aba – 120
Dorben Polytechnic, Abuja – 120
Lagos City Polytechnic, Ikeja – 120
Prime Polytechnic – 120
Heritage Polytechnic, Akwa-Ibom – 120
Global Polytechnic, Akure – 120
Eastern Polytechnic, Port Harcourt – 120
Speedway Polytechnic – 120

Even with scores lower than their cut-off marks, you can secure admission into most of these schools by directly contacting management. If you think private polytechnics already make it ridiculously easy to secure admission with a low JAMB score, wait until you see private colleges of education.

Colleges of Education Cut Off Marks for JAMB
(Private, State, and Federal)

Colleges of education have the least entry requirements of all featured tertiary institution categories, with some admitting students that did not even sit for UTME. If you did sit for the examination, scoring anything over 100 will land you an admission offer from most Nigerian colleges of education.

Here are some popular colleges of education in Nigeria and their cut off marks for JAMB.

Abia State College of Education, Abia – 100
Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies, Kano – 100
Angel Crown College of Education, FCT – 100
City College of Education, FCT – 120
Delta State College of Physical Education – 170
FCT College of Education, Zuba – 130
Federal College of Education, Kano – 100
Federal College of Education, Okene – 100
Ilori College of Education, Ede – 100
Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun – 100

Conclusion

If you’ve written or are planning to write the UTME examinations by JAMB, this guide is for you. Here’s perhaps the most comprehensive guide on the internet about cut off marks for JAMB, how they work, and how to secure admission with any JAMB score.

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