Catchment Areas & ELDS in Federal University Admissions
Federal Government Universities in Nigeria operate under a statutory admission quota formula mandated by the Federal Ministry of Education and JAMB. This policy divides the available admissions capacity for every department into three distinct tiers:
Strictly highest scores regardless of state of origin.
Reserved for states geographically surrounding the university.
Reserved for Educationally Less Developed States.
What is a University Catchment Area?
A university's catchment area refers to the specific geographical states neighboring or host to the institution. Candidates from these states enjoy a slightly lower departmental cutoff mark than the open National Merit cutoff.
For example, the catchment states for the University of Lagos (UNILAG) are: Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ondo, and Ekiti.
List of Educationally Less Developed States (ELDS)
The Federal Government designates certain states as ELDS to promote educational balance across Nigeria:
Explore State-by-State Institutions
View all higher education institutions in your home state via our Universities Directory.