Guidelines Used by Universities to give Admission to JAMB Candidates

Nigerian Universities have a common method of giving admission to JAMB UTME candidates.

This is what we call the “Admission Guidelines” and its approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria through National Universities Commission (NUC).

The Federal Government guidelines for admissions into its institutions of higher learning are based on 45% Merit, 35% Catchment/Locality and 20% Educationally Less Developed States.

ADMISSION ON MERIT

Candidates with very high scores in UTME and post-UTME each year (and/or a weighted combination of both) are given first consideration for their first choice of course in their institution of choice before other candidates. Forty-five percent (45%) of the available spaces are reserved for such applicants.

CATCHMENT AREAS

To give equal opportunities to all applicants, the States of the Federation are grouped into catchment areas of each Tertiary Institution. It is also called Locality which, in most cases, is the geographical and/or socio-cultural areas contiguous to the institution candidates apply to. Consideration is given to students who fall within the catchment area of the Tertiary Institution.

Some Institutions like (UNIABUJA) have all the states of the Federation as their catchment area while state-owned Institutions have all the local government areas of their states as their catchment area. According to the admission guidelines, thirty-five percent (35%) of the available spaces are reserved for applicants from such states or locality.

SEE: Catchment Areas for all Nigerian Universities.

EDUCATIONALLY LESS DEVELOPED STATES (ELDS)

Certain states are considered educationally less developed or disadvantaged. The following states are considered Educationally Less Developed or Disadvantaged States (ELDS): Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kastina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara. Candidates from these states are given special concession for admission.

Lear More about ELDS in Nigeria.

To cut all the long story short, if a school like UNN pegs there Merit cut-off mark for medicine and surgery at 320, the cut-off mark for catchment area (depending on the state) will be lower like 300, 310, etc.

While the cut-off mark for ELDS will be lower than the catchment. Depending on the state it goes as low as 270 (for med surg)

Since we are talking about cut-off marks, below are few points to note about DEPARTMENTAL CUT-OFF MARK.

See also: JAMB Cut-off mark for all Universities.

Points to Note about Departmental Cut-off Mark

1. School’s decides their departmental cut off marks shortly after the conduct of their post UME.
2. Departmental cut off marks varies from year to year,in other words departmental cut of mark used last may may not be the same for this year.
3. Factor that affect departmental cut off marks:
   Generally what causes the increase or decrease of cut of marks in any particular year depends on the number of people that applied for a particular course and how they performed( whether high or low performance)

NOTE: If you don’t get it by general merit cut off mark, then state cut off mark may favour you.

Other Recommended Links:

• How to check if your O’level Result has been Uploaded on JAMB CAPS Portal
• Federal Universities Cut-Off Marks (Everything you need to Know)
• State Universities Cut-Off Marks (Everything you need to Know)
• 25 Etiquette (Good Behaviour) You Should Never Forget
• Mistakes Students should never Make in Universities & Polytechnics
• 10 Secrets to Making Straight A’s in Higher Institution

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