The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, alongside key stakeholders in the education sector, has fixed deadlines for the completion of the 2025/2026 admission exercise into tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
The agreement was reached at the 2026 JAMB Annual Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions, held on Monday in Abuja, where participants reviewed and approved the national admission timetable.
Under the new schedule, public universities are required to wrap up their admissions on or before October 31, 2026, while private universities have until November 30, 2026, to conclude their processes.
Polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education are expected to finish by December 31, 2026.
The board emphasized strict adherence to the approved timelines, insisting that all institutions must operate strictly within the admission calendar.
“All institutions are to conduct their 2026 admission exercise within the approved schedule,” the board said.
It further cautioned that any institution that fails to complete its admissions within the stipulated period 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 once they are approved 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 warned that failure to accept offers within the timeframe would lead to automatic withdrawal of such admissions, with affected candidates being penalised.
“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 brought together vice-chancellors, rectors, and other education stakeholders, focused on improving coordination and ensuring a harmonised admission process across all tertiary institutions in the country.
