The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has called on tertiary institutions across Nigeria to increase student admissions, particularly in critical sectors such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, agriculture, and education.
Speaking on Tuesday at the opening session of the ongoing Policy Meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja, Alausa said tertiary institutions are not admitting enough students despite having the capacity to do so.
“We have taken deliberate steps to expand access to tertiary education, especially in critical sectors such as medicine, nursing, and pharmacy. data from jamb has indicated this,” Alausa said.
According to him, In 2024, the quota availability for medicine, pharmacy and health science was 114,120; the initial application was 577,575; and the number admitted was 80,075.
Similarly in agriculture, the quota for availability was 56,576 , the initial application was 23,964 and the number admitted was 26,108, while in education, the quota for availability was 143,127, the initial application was 73,346 and the number admitted was 87,329.
Alausa, however, called on tertiary institutions to use data in their admitting process, stating that closing the gap between available capacity and actual admissions would increase access to higher education for the youths.
He stated, “We have to start using data in planning. If you look at the quota for all the courses, there is a wide gap between quotas that are available and the numbers of student that we are admitting. we have capacity, but we are not admitting enough students.
“We need to dive down into this; we need to use data on why we have this gap between the quota available and the number of students admitted in all faculties. The available quota is higher than the number of students admitted. we need to start closing the gap. if we start closing the gap, we will be able to provide more access to our children. they need the opportunity to go to school.”
