UTME exemption for ND, NCE holders may add 1.5million admissions — Alausa

UTME exemption for ND, NCE holders may add 1.5million admissions — Alausa

Tunji Alausa, minister of education, says the unified
tertiary matriculation examination exemptions granted to candidates seeking
admission into colleges of education and national diploma (ND) agriculture
programmes will increase the number of Nigerians admitted into tertiary
institutions by 1.5 million.

 

On Monday, Alausa announced at the 2026 admission policy
meeting that the federal government has exempted candidates seeking admission
into colleges of education from writing the UTME.

 

The minister noted that candidates with four credit passes
in relevant subjects would now be allowed to apply to colleges of education
without sitting for the examination.

 

He explained that such candidates would, however, be
required to register with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB),
while their credentials would be screened, verified and certified for admission
letters through the central admissions processing system (CAPS) in line with
existing regulations.

 

 

Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme,
on Tuesday, the minister defended the policy shift, noting that it is aimed at
expanding access to tertiary education and reducing restrictive admission
conditions.

 

“Let’s give these kids opportunity by removing the
restriction,” Alausa said.

 

He recalled that the government had earlier reviewed
ordinary level requirements for admission into tertiary institutions,
particularly the compulsory credit passes in English language and mathematics.

 

 

“Just last year, we had a requirement: to go to university
or college of education, you must have five credits,” the minister said.

 

“That must include English and mathematics. And we said, if
you are going to study law, why do you need a credit in mathematics? If you are
going to study science, why do you need a credit in English? We abolished
that.”

 

Alausa said under the revised policy, candidates applying
for social sciences, law and arts-related courses would only require a credit
pass in English, while those seeking admission into science and engineering
programmes would only require a credit pass in mathematics.

 

He noted that the policy review within one year had already
increased admission into tertiary institutions significantly.

 

 

“For the number of students, there are always between 2.1
and 2.2 million people doing UTME year over year, and about 770,000 people will
be admitted, leaving a huge gap,” the minister said.

 

“So, what happened to 1.2 million people? That gets carried
over to the following year.

 

“But for the first time in the history of our country, last
year, with the changes we made to the previously restrictive ordinary level
requirement, we increased the number of people from 770,000 to 1.1 million
students. We added almost 400,000 more students.”

 

He said the latest UTME exemptions for NCE and ND intakes
would further expand access to higher education across the country.

 

“This year alone, with the changes we are making,
eliminating UTME requirement for colleges of education and UTME requirement for
non-technology agricultural and agricultural-related courses in polytechnics
and monotechnics, it will increase the number of people being admitted to our
tertiary institutions by almost 1.5 million,” he said.

 

The minister maintained that the reforms were designed to
remove barriers preventing qualified Nigerians from accessing tertiary
education, while also increasing enrolment in critical sectors such as teacher
education and agriculture.

Source: UTME exemption for ND, NCE holders may add 1.5million admissions — Alausa

 - NigerianEye
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