Getting admission into any of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions (including universities, polytechnics and colleges) is as straightforward as anything can be. In this article, I will be using universities to mean all the tertiary institutions. Furthermore, I will also highlight and explain (where necessary), the steps involved in applying and getting admission into a University in Nigeria.

There are three basic requirements for admission into a Nigerian University: good ordinary level (high school) grades, required JAMB result or score and post-UTME score. If you are not familiar with any of the terms or acronyms that I have just mentioned, I will explain what they mean in the appropriate section. So, you have nothing to worry about.

Steps Involved In Applying for Admission

The following are the steps you need to follow in order to get admission into a university in Nigeria. They are quite easy to follow but as foreign students, some of those steps might not be easy to follow if you are not applying to the “elite” schools. This is because many of the “second tier” institutions still do their admission screening registration with pen and paper. Therefore, it is practically impossible to apply online.

Having said that, there are still many universities that conduct admission application online. There are also a fairly good number of them that even now conduct admission screening online.

STEP 1: Firstly, you must have a good high school result to be considered for admission into any university in Nigeria. For this purpose, you need a good NECO or WAEC result. You must have at least 5 credit passes in 5 subjects required for the course you wish to study, two of which must be Mathematics and English Language.

NECO and WAEC are the bodies that conduct final examinations for secondary or high school leavers. NECO stands for the National Examination Council, while WAEC stands for the West African Examination Council.

STEP 2: The second step is to register for the common university entrance examination that JAMB conducts. After your JAMB registration, you will sit for the examination called the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). To stand a chance of getting admission, you should know the cut-off mark that your university of choice and course of study require. This will help you set a target and prepare adequately for the examination.

JAMB stands for Joint Admission and Matriculation Board. You can read more about JAMB and JAMB registration on ngscholars.net.

STEP 3: Apply for Post-UTME and sit for the exam.

The last important step that qualifies you for admission into a Nigerian University is the post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (post-UTME). Each school has been given the liberty to conduct any form of screening for admission and this is done via the Post-UTME.

It is worth noting that you need to have the minimum score the school you chose require from JAMB UTME before you qualify for the Post-UTME. This is called the cut-off mark.

Lastly, the school uses a composite of your secondary school (WAEC) grades, JAMB UTME and post-UTME scores to consider you for admission.

I wish you the very best as you apply for admission.

Joyce Laroche