The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Tuesday in Abuja pegged the minimum entry requirement into Nigerian universities for the 2015/16 academic year at 180 marks.

The body, however, said polytechnics and colleges of education, including innovative enterprise institutions awarding National Diploma are to admit undergraduate students with a minimum of 150 marks.

The decisions were taken during the 6th combined policy meeting of stakeholders of institutions awarding degrees and certificates.

The stakeholders also agreed on the admission quota for the 2015/16 academic year, approving a 60-40 ratio for science and arts-related programmes in all universities while a ratio of 70-30 goes for technology and non-technology related courses in the polytechnics.

The meeting was attended by vice-chancellors of universities, provosts of colleges of education and rectors of polytechnics and monotechnics.

The Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of JAMB, Prof. 'Dibu Ojerinde, cautioned tertiary institutions against flouting the admission process, saying that with effect from the current academic session, the board would sanction defaulters who defy the regulation for admissions.

In his power-point presentation at the meeting, Ojerinde said a total of 1,436,867 candidates, representing 97.38 per cent applied to degree-awarding institutions as first choice preference, while candidates' preference for NCE stood at 18,341, representing 1.24 per cent.

The 2015 UTME cumulative performance statistics of candidates also released by JAMB indicated that 455,639 candidates scored 200 marks and above.

Those who scored between 190-199 stood at 207,720 while those below 160 were 122,091 candidates.

For the 2015 admission year, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, topped the first choice university chart for applicants with 7.12 per cent, this was closely followed by University of Benin, coming second with 4.83 per cent.

The Federal Polytechnic,Offa in Kwara State, topped most preferred polytechnic with 0.15 per cent, followed by Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot-Osurua, with 0.11 per cent.