UG maintains admission cut-offs despite poor 2025 WASSCE results

The University of Ghana (UG) says it will maintain its admission cut-off points for the 2025/2026 academic year despite the significant drop in performance recorded in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

This year’s WASSCE saw a major decline in outcomes, with Core Mathematics registering the steepest fall. Passes in the A1–C6 range dropped from 305,132 in 2024 to 209,068 in 2025, more than 96,000 fewer passes. The overall pass rate stood at 48.73%, leaving over half of candidates without the grades required for tertiary admission. Nearly one in four candidates failed both Core Mathematics and Social Studies, raising concerns about university eligibility.

Speaking to Citi News on Tuesday, December 2, UG Pro Vice Chancellor, Prof. Gordon Awandare, said the university has begun processing results from applicants who bought awaiting-results forms and will offer admission to qualified candidates. However, he stressed that the university would not lower its cut-off points.

“At the University of Ghana, every year, we have many more students making the cut off but not getting the opportunity to be admitted because of the limited number of spaces.

“So, it is not likely that we will need to move the cut-off to get sufficient numbers for each programme. We will advise that if they really want to come to Legon, they should re-sit some of the papers and improve their aggregates and try again,” he stated.

Prof. Awandare added that maintaining the cut-offs is essential to safeguarding academic standards.