JAMB Announces Deadlines for 2026 University, Polytechnic Admissions

• JAMB has announced the official deadlines for the 2025/2026 admission exercise, warning institutions and candidates to comply with the approved timetable or risk sanctions.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has announced the official deadlines for the completion of the 2025/2026 admission exercise for tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

The decision was reached during the 2026 JAMB Annual Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions held in Abuja on Monday, where key stakeholders in the education sector agreed on a unified admission timetable.

According to the resolutions adopted at the meeting, all public universities are expected to conclude their admission processes on or before October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026, to complete admissions.

Polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education are also required to finish their admission exercises not later than December 31, 2026.

JAMB stressed that institutions must strictly adhere to the approved admission schedule.

“All institutions are to conduct their 2026 admission exercise within the approved schedule,” the board stated.

The examination body also warned that institutions that fail to complete admissions within the stipulated timeframe 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.

JAMB further announced a four-week grace period for candidates to accept admission offers after they have been approved by institutions.

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“There will be a grace period of four weeks within which all approved admissions must be accepted by the candidates,” JAMB stated.

The board warned that candidates who fail to accept admission within the specified period risk losing the offer and could face sanctions.

“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 brought together Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, and other education stakeholders to discuss ways to streamline the admission process and ensure uniformity in admission timelines across tertiary institutions nationwide.