The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has revealed that it expended ₦113.8 million to supervise the 2025 edition of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted across seven international centres.
The examination was held on July 12, 2025, in Buea (Cameroon), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), London (United Kingdom), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lome (Togo), Cotonou (Benin Republic), and Accra (Ghana), according to a report by The PUNCH.
JAMB stated that organising the UTME outside Nigeria is part of its efforts to enhance the international visibility of Nigerian universities and attract foreign students to the country’s tertiary institutions.
“This initiative has not only given global exposure to Nigerian universities but also drawn attention from foreign students who now show increased interest in seeking admission into Nigerian institutions,” the board said in a statement.
The board also confirmed that international student enrolment has now been adopted as a key criterion in selecting recipients of its National Tertiary Admissions Performance Merit Award (NATAP M-Award). The award is given to institutions that demonstrate outstanding performance in student admissions, especially from outside Nigeria.
“In line with this vision, JAMB has now adopted the number of international students admitted into each institution as a critical factor for the NATAP M-Award,” the statement noted.
Highlighting its ongoing efforts, the board disclosed that a similar international UTME was conducted in eight countries in 2024—namely London, Jeddah, Accra, Cotonou, Johannesburg, Banjul (Gambia), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), and Cameroon—as part of a broader push to internationalize Nigeria’s higher education system.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has reiterated the board’s commitment to widening access and reinforcing Nigeria’s presence in the global academic space.
