The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife in Osun State, South West, and the University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka, South East, with 41 other prominent universities owned by the Federal, State and Private individuals and organisations have minimum cut-off marks of between 180-200 for admissions into their respective institutions, the Economic Confidential reports authoritatively.

In a painstaking search and carefully computed data from Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the National Universities Commission, various tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the computations of the Economic Confidential indicate that these higher institutions are regarded as Grade ‘A’ Universities of choice as they can accommodate students with minimum of 180-200 scores in JAMB tertiary matriculation examination.

Apart from the above, most of them are first and second generation federal universities and they have set higher standards of education comparable to other higher-grade institutions in the country.

These institutions include but not limited to the following: University of Benin, University of Ibadan, St Albert The Great Major Seminary (Affiliated to UNIBEN), University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Covenant University, Ota in Ogun State, Ekiti State University, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger state, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Bayero University Kano, University of Ilorin and 29 others.

Investigations further reveal that there are other tertiary institutions in the country considered as Grade ‘B’ with minimum cut-off marks of between 150-170 and foremost among them is the Adamawa State University, Mubi, Babcock University Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State; Redeemers University, Ogun State; American University of Nigeria (AUN) Yola; Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, Oyo State; Baze University, Abuja; Kwararafa University, Wukari, Taraba State, and 74 other institutions cutting across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education owned by federal, state and private individuals and organisations.

These institutions categorised as Grade ‘B’ are categorised as first and second generation federal, states and private universities and polytechnics. The private universities in this category use the cut-off marks to woo intending student applicants for their courses apart from sustaining their revenue generation drive to stay afloat.

Furthermore, the investigations also show that there are cut-off marks between 100-145 who still get admissions into institutions of higher learning in the country and are categorised as grade ‘C’.

They are among the 167 universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other institutions owned by federal, state and private individuals and organisations.

They include but not limited to the following: Bauchi State University; Federal College of Forestry, Jos, Plateau State; Federal University Gashua, Yobe state; University of Mkar, Gboko, Benue state; Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State; Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt: Wesley University Ondo; Tansian University Anambra; Ibadan City Polytechnic Oyo; Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State, Trinity Polytechnic Uyo and 156 other institutions across the country.

Economic Confidential search further reveals that Nigerians institutions of this grade have many attractions for a large number of students’ applications for admission due mainly to the fact that most of these applicants are either denied admissions due to low cut-off marks which the two categories “A” and “B” would not condone and certainly admitted by the grade “C” category.

However, using the JAMB’s report of most preferred universities in the country, Economic Confidential gathered that applicants seeking admission into universities considered academic stability, popularity, affordability, available facilities and quality of lecturers as part of their checklist before making choices in their applications.

The tertiary institutions’ minimum admission cut-off mark was a collective decision of stakeholders in the education sector. The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede insisted that stakeholders in education sector unanimously agreed on the minimum cut-off marks for the 2017 academic year. He said: “What JAMB did was a recommendation, we only determined the minimum, whatever the various institutions determine as their admission cut-off mark is their decisions. The Senate and academic boards of universities should be allowed to determine their cut-off marks.”

JAMB has also introduced a Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) which has provision for candidates to track their admission and raise queries when they feel cheated. The system allows candidates to check the admission status and accept/reject courses offered whilst being considered by other universities who can have access to data of all applicants.