Education

UK govt to raise university tuition fees in 2025

The administration of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the United Kingdom is planning to increase tuition fees in universities in the country effective from September 2025, a report by The Telegraph of London has indicated.

The increase is going to be the first in eight years.

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is expected to announce the tuition fees rise in line with the Retail Price Index inflation.

The fee rise is expected to come into force from September 2025, meaning that it will affect A-level students who are currently applying to universities.

Tuition fees have remained frozen at £9,250 since 2017. It is unclear which month’s inflation figures the Labour Party government will choose to link fees to, but matching them to the current rate of 2.7 per cent would see fees rise to about £9,500 from next year.

Previous reports suggested that the government would raise tuition fees to £10,500 over the next five years.

The move follows growing concerns that many institutions are now facing financial crisis, with 40 per cent of English universities expecting to slump into a deficit this year.

The Coalition government tripled tuition fees to £9,000 in 2012. Fees only increased after that to hit £9,250 in 2017, where they remain frozen today despite soaring inflation over the past few years.

The Russell Group of elite universities has argued that the cap on tuition fees means they are now making a loss of about £4,000 per UK student.

University finances have also suffered from a dramatic drop in lucrative international students following a Tory crackdown on dependent visas.

Home Office figures showed 16 per cent fewer visa applications were made between July and September than in the same period in 2023.

Foreign students, who typically pay triple or even quadruple domestic students, had been largely propping up the sector. A sudden fall in numbers has removed a crucial lifeline for universities and amplified calls for immediate action from the new government.

Sources close to discussions told The Telegraph they were hoping that a small tuition fee rise would be announced in the budget last week as an acknowledgement by Rachel Reeves of the severity of the situation.

However, the Chancellor held off from unveiling any new funding for the higher education sector in her maiden budget.

Education

2025 UTME: JAMB faults result of highest scorer

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has “suspected” foul play in the results of Chinedu Okeke, the best candidate in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar, at the 2025 policy meeting of the board on Tuesday in Abuja, announced that Okeke, an indigene of Anambra, emerged the best candidate with 375 score, in the examinations.

Oloyede, however, said that the board made some discoveries regarding Okeke, who applied for Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos.

Oloyede explained that data from JAMB revealed that Okeke was admitted a year ago, in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), in the School of Medicine.

He said that JAMB wrote UNN for clarification about the candidate, and the school revealed that Okeke is a student of the institution, and he is doing fine.

Speaking with NAN on the development, JAMB Public Communications Advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin said the board suspected foul play.

“The law does not allow a student to matriculate twice, and as an undergraduate, he has an advantage over other candidates in the examinations.

“In his records, he claimed he is from the South-East, while the other record is reading that he is from Lagos State.

“We are suspecting that he is a mercenary in the examination,” Benjamin told NAN in a telephone interview.

The board also announced that John Ayuba from Gombe state came second in the examinations scoring 374, while Olayinka Jimoh from Kwara state scored 373.

Other top scorers are Ayibo Roberts from Rivers, Chibueze Omonugbo from Enugu state Tunmise Olawepo from Kwara and Leslie Afinotan, from Delta, all scoring 373.

Also in the list of top scorers are Chukwuemeka Azoyenime from Delta, Emmanuel Oyebode from Ogun and Cecil Omigie from Edo, all scoring 372 in the examinations.

Education

FG officially pegs university admission age at 16

The Federal Government has pegged the minimum admissible age for candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria at 16 years.

Minister of Education Tunji Alausa announced this on Tuesday during the 2025 Policy Meeting on Admissions, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja.

The 16-year age requirement will be enforced through its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), with efforts made to accommodate candidates who would turn 16 by 31st August 2025.

However, JAMB expressed concern that some institutions had violated this directive by admitting underage candidates through channels outside CAPS and collecting substantial amounts from them as tuition fees.

“The Board implemented the 16-year admissible age on its CAPS platform and even bent backwards to accommodate candidates who would be 16 as of 31st August 2025.

“However, some institutions admitted candidates who were not up to the admissible age of 16 outside CAPS and even collected huge sums of money from them as tuition fees,” JAMB stated.

The Board noted that all such admissions were illegal and could not be processed through CAPS, adding that some of these cases had led to litigation against the offending institutions.

The 16-year minimum admission age comes after last year’s controversy, when former Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, faced backlash from stakeholders over his attempt to raise the benchmark to 18, a move many said was criticised.

In a related development, JAMB announced that beginning with the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), each candidate’s result slip will now include their national ranking among peers.

The initiative, according to the Board, is aimed at discouraging the celebration of high UTME scores in isolation and curbing the spread of fake scores.

“To curb the menace of celebrating top scorers of UTME, candidates’ ranking (position) will be indicated on the result slip for each candidate,” the Board explained.

JAMB stated that this measure would assist institutions in better evaluating the quality of applicants and provide a standardised reference point across cohorts.

It further questioned the logic of calls to extend the validity of UTME results, noting that such an extension would raise complications regarding the comparability of scores.

By publishing ranking information, JAMB believes that candidates parading falsified scores would also be discouraged, and institutions would gain a clearer sense of the academic standing of each applicant.

For context, the Board revealed that in the 2025 UTME, out of a total of 1,905,539 candidates, a score of 370 is ranked 16th, 320 is ranked 5,806th, 250 is ranked 107,819th, 200 is ranked 533,805th, 180 is ranked 948,025th, 140 is ranked 1,855,607th, 120 is ranked 1,900,872nd, while 100 is ranked 1,903,661st.

JAMB reiterated its commitment to equity, transparency, and merit-based admissions in Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

The ongoing policy meeting, attended by vice-chancellors, registrars, and provosts of tertiary institutions nationwide, is expected to conclude with the approval of admission cut-off marks and other regulatory guidelines for the 2025 academic session.

Education

JAMB Sets 150 As Cut-Off Mark For Universities

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday announced 150 as the cut-off mark for admission into universities in Nigeria.

JAMB made the decision on Tuesday during the 2025 Policy Meeting on Admissions, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja.

According to the board, the cut-off mark for colleges for nursing stands at 140, colleges of agriculture 100, while colleges of education remain 100.

“The minimum admissible scores for admissions for the next academic session have been fixed at 150 for universities, 100 for polytechnics, 100 for colleges of education, and 140 for colleges of nursing sciences by the stakeholders (Heads of Tertiary Institutions),” JAMB wrote on its X handle