"The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released new directives for 2026/2027 admissions, strengthening Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) operations and admission integrity."
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released mandatory guidelines and directives governing the 2026/2027 academic session admissions cycle through the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS). This release seeks to eliminate administrative arbitrariness, enforce transparency, and safeguard the absolute integrity of university admission selections across Nigeria.
The Supremacy of CAPS
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, reiterated that any admission offer processed outside the official CAPS platform is not only illegal but completely null and void. Candidates who accept "paper admissions" or informal school listings do so at their own risk, as such admissions will not be recognized for mobilization by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or for the validation of graduation credentials.
Key Regulations Implemented
1.
First Choice Priority: Tertiary institutions are strictly prohibited from recommending candidates for admission who did not choose them as their first-choice institution during the primary window.
2.
Threshold Adherence: Recommendations must strictly comply with the officially approved institutional and departmental cutoff marks. No candidate with an aggregate score lower than the defined minimum can be recommended under any circumstances.
3.
Acceptance Timeline: Once an admission recommendation is uploaded and approved on CAPS, candidates have a strict, non-negotiable window to accept or reject the offer. Unaccepted offers will be automatically withdrawn and the slot declared vacant for subsequent batches.
4.
Quota and Geopolitics: All institutions must adhere strictly to their approved capacities and the federal government's policy on Catchment Areas, Merit, and Educationally Less Developed States (ELDS) during the recommendation process on the platform.