The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board on Thursday said it had set 180 as the cut-off mark for admission into all categories of tertiary institutions across Nigeria for the 2010.



The decision was reached after the first combined policy committee meeting on admission to degree-awarding institutions, National Diploma, Nigeria Certificate in Education and National Innovation Diploma-awarding institutions held in Abuja.



The cut-off mark affects all the candidates that sat for the first Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted on April 17.



Minister of Education Prof. Ruqqayatu Rufa’i, announced the decision after the meeting at the National Universities Commission, Abuja.



According to her, “We have met with the Vice- Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts, and discussed the issue of the cut-off mark for this year’s UTME; and then we agreed on 180 as the cut-off mark.



“Since it is a unified examination, we agreed that it should be uniform for polytechnics, colleges of education as well as universities.”



The minister also directed JAMB to publish the list of candidates of educationally disadvantaged states, to facilitate the process of identification.



She stressed the need for institutions to accord special attention to candidates from educationally less-developed states, according to their admission guidelines.



The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. ‘Dibu Ojerinde, while speaking on the issue, said 180 was agreed upon by the heads of tertiary institutions present at the meeting.



He also enjoined universities to adhere to their admission quota or risk the revocation of their licences.



In his address at the meeting, the Chairman, Governing Board of JAMB, Prof. Sam Ukpabi, explained that the UTME, as the new matriculation examination, had come to stay.



Ukpabi noted that the UTME began on a strong footing, on account of the speedy release of results.



He said the UTME was part of the road map to education developed by the immediate past Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, and approved by the Federal Executive Council.



He noted that the UTME was introduced to address the challenges of limited space in Nigerian universities.



Ukpabi said tertiary institutions across the country were now better positioned to admit students, as a result of the speedy release of examination results, adding that six levels of admission would be conducted simultaneously.