The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has rolled out comprehensive new guidelines for admissions into National Certificate in Education (NCE) and agriculture-related National Diploma (ND) programmes, ending direct admission into degree programmes offered by colleges of education from the 2026/2027 academic session.

Under the new framework, candidates seeking admission into colleges of education will be required to enter through the NCE route, while admissions into 100 and 200-level degree programmes in colleges of education have been discontinued.

The Board also announced that admissions into affiliated degree programmes run by colleges of education would cease from the 2026/2027 session, marking a major shift in the country’s teacher education admission process.

According to the guidelines released yesterday and signed by the outgoing JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, candidates can only be processed under one admission mode at a time. Applicants who opt for NCE admission and are recommended by institutions will automatically have any ongoing UTME or Direct Entry application suspended.

A key feature of the new admission regime is the mandatory verification of O-Level results through examination bodies, including the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) and National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS), before candidates can complete their registration.

Candidates will be required to obtain result verification codes at a cost of N1,500 for one sitting and N2,000 for two sittings, with the examination body explaining that admissions would only be processed after successful verification of credentials.

For NCE applicants in the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 admission cycles, registration will attract a N3,500 application fee and N700 registration charge payable through accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres or Institutional Professional Registration Centres (IPRCs) established in colleges of education nationwide.