All is now set for today’s policy meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as participants converge on Abuja for the exercise.

The Guardian gathered that, for the first time, officials from Sierra Leone will observe the meeting, aimed at approving the National Minimum Tolerable Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination score, also known as the cut-off point, for 2026/2027 admissions to tertiary institutions.

The meeting, which will be chaired by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, is expected to formally set the tone for the 2026/2027 admission exercise.

Recall that at last year’s policy meeting, stakeholders approved 150 points as the minimum admission benchmark for universities, while polytechnics and colleges of education retained 100 points, with colleges of nursing set at 140 points nationwide.

Similarly, during the 2023 admission exercise, heads of tertiary institutions adopted 140 points as the minimum cut-off mark for universities and 100 points for polytechnics and colleges of education. The same benchmarks were subsequently retained for the 2024 admission cycle.

It was also gathered that this would be the last policy meeting of the Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, having been reappointed on a five-year tenure on August 1, 2021, by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari (late).

Confirming the presence of officials from the West African nation for the meeting, the spokesperson of the examination body, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed, on his X handle, that the delegation is in Nigeria to observe and understudy the country’s centralised admission process.

“This year’s meeting will also witness the participation of the Deputy Minister of Education of Sierra Leone, Mr Sarjoh Aziz Kamara, alongside two Vice-Chancellors from Sierra Leonean universities: Prof. Edwin Momoh, Vice-Chancellor of Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology, and Prof. Bashiru Koroma, Vice-Chancellor of Njala University. They are in Nigeria to understudy the nation’s centralised admission system as Sierra Leone plans to establish a body similar to JAMB to streamline its own admission process.

“The delegation was taken through the examination and admission processes at the Board’s headquarters in Bwari yesterday. During today’s policy meeting, they will also witness firsthand how critical stakeholders are actively carried along in the admission value chain,” he said.

The Guardian reports that the yearly event brings together stakeholders in the education sector, including Vice-Chancellors, rectors, provosts, registrars, and their admission officers.

Others are regulatory bodies ranging from the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), among others.