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, all candidates seeking admission into Colleges of Education will be required to enter through the NCE route, while admissions into 100 and 200 levels of 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 on Sunday 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 WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and 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 CBT centres or Institutional Professional Registration Centres (IPRCs) established in Colleges of Education nationwide.

The Board said institutions would be required to review candidates’ credentials and recommend qualified applicants through its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), where final approvals would be granted after verification of examination records.

JAMB also introduced a special condonement process for candidates who secured admissions into Colleges of Education outside its admission system during the 2024 and 2025 academic sessions.

Affected candidates will be allowed to regularise their admissions after obtaining result verification codes, paying the prescribed fees and undergoing institutional and JAMB processing.

For candidates who applied through the 2026 UTME and selected Colleges of Education as their first choice, JAMB said their details would automatically be migrated to the NCE admission platform.

Such candidates, the document stated, will only be required to obtain the O’Level verification code and pay a N700 registration fee, while the N3,500 application fee has been waived for this category.

The Board further outlined options for candidates who applied to affiliated Colleges of Education for degree programmes in 2026. These include transferring to the parent university, changing institution at no cost, or defaulting to their second-choice institution where no preference is indicated.

Recall that at this year’s Admission Policy Meeting in May, the Federal Government announced the exemption of candidates seeking admission into colleges of education from writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa who disclosed the new development, said candidates with four credit passes in relevant subjects are allowed to apply to the colleges of education without sitting for the UTME.