As the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) convenes its crucial policy meeting today (Thursday), prospective students across Nigeria have anticipated the decisions that will shape their academic futures for the 2024 admissions cycle.
The JAMB gathering is set to hold significant weight, influencing admission criteria, eligibility requirements, and procedural guidelines for universities nationwide.
Amidst the policy meeting’s deliberations, students and parents are keenly focused on potential changes that could impact their admission prospects.
Key discussions in the meeting would typically revolve around cut-off marks, the adoption of new examination formats, and adjustments to the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus.
According to a statement released by JAMB, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, will chair the 2024 policy meeting, slated for Thursday, July 18, in Abuja.
The board, in its weekly news bulletin, stated: “This year’s exercise will also feature the National Tertiary Admissions’ Performance-Merit Award, NATAP-M Awards, where the overall winner will receive N500 million, and other consolation winners will share N250 million collectively.
”The policy meeting, usually attended by vice-chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics, monotechnics, and innovation enterprise institutes, provosts of colleges of education, and other critical stakeholders, will consider and approve the guidelines for the 2024 admission exercise.
“The meeting will review the performance of the 2023 admissions exercise and the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME performance of candidates.
“The minimum admission scores, an aggregation of individual institutions’ submissions, will be approved at the meeting.
“This is not a cut-off mark, as often misconstrued, but a minimum score that no institution should go below. The decisions made at the meeting, chaired by the Minister of Education, form the guiding norms for admission and are a collective decision, not solely that of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.
“No institution is expected to commence the admission process until after the policy meeting, as the guidelines regulating the year’s admission exercise are determined at the meeting with the endorsement of the Minister of Education.
“The meeting declares the commencement of the year’s admission exercise, setting the grand norms, and any institution that violates these collective norms will face sanctions.”
One of the prospective students, Happiness Chris, expressed her anticipation and hope during today’s JAMB policy meeting.
“I’m eagerly awaiting the decisions today. It’s a pivotal moment for us prospective students aiming for 2024 admissions in tertiary institutions.”
[Leadership]