The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) alongside other stakeholders has fixed deadlines for the completion of the 2025/2026 admission exercise into tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
The decision was taken at the 2026 JAMB Annual Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions held in Abuja on Monday.
Based on the resolutions from the meeting, public universities are expected to wrap up their admission processes on or before October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026, to conclude theirs.
In the same vein, polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education are to finish their admissions not later than December 31, 2026.
It was also agreed that all institutions must strictly follow the approved admission timetable.
“All institutions are to conduct their 2026 admission exercise within the approved schedule,” the board said.
The board further warned that institutions that fail to complete admissions within the set timeframe will 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.
JAMB also introduced a four-week window for candidates to accept 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 stated.
It cautioned that candidates who do not accept their offers within the stipulated period risk losing the admission and may face penalties.
“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 said.
The policy meeting, which had in attendance vice-chancellors, rectors, and other education stakeholders, was aimed at improving coordination in the admission process and ensuring uniform timelines across tertiary institutions in the country.
