… Medicine, Law, Sciences Oversubscribed As Over 500,000 Seek Placement
… Education, Agriculture Struggle With Weak Candidate Demand
As of May 11, 2026, Nigeria’s 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) admission cycle has placed 1,009,736 candidates across tertiary institutions, but 706,418 spaces remain vacant, leaving 41.16 percent of the total 1,716,154 quota unused.
The figures, released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), show a stark contrast between high-demand professional courses and low uptake in teacher education, agriculture and basic sciences.
Degree-awarding institutions recorded the highest uptake, admitting 785,180 candidates out of 1,060,919 spaces, which is 74.01 percent, leaving 25.99 percent unfilled.
National Diploma programmes followed with 198,760 admissions against a quota of 409,229, or 48.57 percent, leaving 51.43 percent vacant.
The gap is widest in National Certificate of Education (NCE) and National Innovation Diploma (NID) categories.
Colleges of Education admitted only 24,736 candidates out of 234,981, representing 10.53 percent, while Innovative Enterprise Institutions admitted 1,060 out of 11,025, or 9.61 percent, leaving 90.39 percent of their quota unused.
The faculty-level breakdown for degree programmes reveals why the system remains strained despite available spaces.
Medicine, Pharmacy and Health Sciences attracted 433,298 applications for 148,486 spaces, but admitted 120,241 candidates, leaving 19.02 percent of the quota unused.
Sciences drew 323,828 applications for 239,082 spaces and admitted 181,799, leaving 23.96 percent vacant. Engineering, Technology and Environment had 161,501 applications for 111,422 spaces and admitted 86,358, leaving 22.49 percent unused.
Social Sciences recorded 256,364 applications for 161,337 spaces with 120,414 admissions and 25 percent of the quota unfilled.
Administration saw 127,556 applications for 70,478 spaces and admitted 55,338, leaving 21.48 percent vacant. Arts and Humanities attracted 106,128 applications for 75,369 spaces and admitted 56,491, leaving 25.05 percent unused.
Agriculture had 42,809 applications for 44,553 spaces and admitted 32,805, leaving 26.37 percent vacant. Education, with the largest quota at 198,661, received 146,418 applications and admitted 122,064 candidates, leaving 38.56 percent unused.
Law had the most disproportionate demand, with 58,033 applications for 10,874 spaces, but only 9,724 admissions, leaving 10.58 percent of the quota unfilled.
For NCE programmes, Arts courses admitted 9,792 candidates while Sciences admitted 5,049.
In ND programmes, Technology courses accounted for 137,040 admissions compared to 72,240 in Non-Technology courses.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ish-aq Oloyede during the recent JAMB Policy Meeting explained that the persistent vacancies are driven by candidate rigidity in programme choice, particularly for Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( MBBS) Nursing, Law and other professional degrees.
Many applicants also present mismatched demand and supply, lack interest in existing vacancies in NCE, Education, Agriculture and Basic Sciences, and include trial candidates without O’Level results or those awaiting results.
Others are underage, have wrong O’Level subject combinations, low post-UTME scores, UTME combination deficiencies, or fail to accept offers due to inflexibility.
Absence from post-UTME screening and mismatch of catchment institutions further contribute to the gap.
In a bid to address the shortfall in teacher education and agriculture, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa that UTME requirement has been abolished for NCE programmes in Colleges of Education and for ND Non-Technology Agriculture and Agriculture-related programmes in Polytechnics and Colleges of Agriculture nationwide.
The decision followed a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, and is aimed at expanding access, strengthening teacher education and agricultural manpower, and reducing the number of out-of-school adolescents.
Under the new policy, candidates will still obtain the JAMB application form and process admissions through the JAMB platform and CAPS.
All admissions must be conducted strictly through CAPS, and existing minimum admission requirements remain unchanged.
Applicants must upload their O’Level results on the JAMB portal, and admission letters for the affected programmes will continue to be issued exclusively by JAMB after verification.
While the data underscores a system where competition is fierce for a few courses while thousands of spaces in critical areas remain empty, the Education minister expressed hope that with the policy shift now in effect, more candidates will take up places in education and agriculture.
