The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector have approved deadlines for the completion of the 2025/2026 admission exercise for tertiary institutions across the country.
The decision was reached during the 2026 JAMB Annual Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions held in Abuja on Monday, May 11.
Public universities given October deadline
According to resolutions adopted at the meeting, all public universities are expected to complete their admission processes on or before October 31, 2026.
Private universities, however, have been granted an additional one-month window, with their admission exercises expected to end by November 30, 2026.
Polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education are to conclude admissions not later than December 31, 2026.
Institutions warned against missing schedule
JAMB stressed that all tertiary institutions must strictly adhere to the approved admission timetable.
“All institutions are to conduct their 2026 admission exercise within the approved schedule,” the board stated.
The examination body warned that institutions failing to complete admissions within the stipulated period would lose access to candidates on the Central Admissions Processing System platform.
“At the expiration of the period, any institution that failed to conduct its admission will no longer have the candidates on its platform on CAPS,” the board added.
Candidates given four weeks to accept offers
The board also announced a four-week grace period for candidates to either accept or reject admission offers after approval by institutions.
“There will be a grace period of four weeks within which all approved admissions must be accepted by the candidates,” JAMB said.
It warned that failure to accept admission within the approved timeframe could lead to the cancellation of the offer.
“Failure to do so will lead to such admissions being deleted, based on the request from the institutions, and the candidates will be placed under the ‘refusal to accept category’ punishable by ineligibility to be admitted again,” the board stated.
Stakeholders discuss uniform admission process
The policy meeting brought together vice-chancellors, rectors and other stakeholders in the education sector to discuss ways of improving and harmonising the admission process nationwide.
The meeting focused on ensuring uniform timelines and strengthening coordination among tertiary institutions across the country.
