UNAM will solve one of its biggest crises with pencil and paper. After a week on edge for the applicants, a commission of 16 experts reached a decision this Friday following the controversy sparked by alleged cheating in the online entrance exam for the bachelor’s degree. The University has decided to apply a “control exam” to applicants who have matched or exceeded the score required to enter the programs between 2021 and 2025, this time in person. In this way, the test will be repeated for the population that had an atypical number of correct answers, and among those who were rejected but could have obtained a place according to the average number of correct answers from previous years. Later, the University will announce the place and time to retake the test, which will be done “as soon as possible.”
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The report “after four days of intense work,” was presented by the head of the technical commission, Eduardo Bárzana García, who presented the recommendations to the University rector, Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas. The investigation revealed that in the four years prior to the online exam, around 3% of applicants scored 100 or more correct answers out of 120, while in this year’s online test, it shot up to 16%. “UNAM identifies a group of students whose behavior suggested a series of irregularities,” Bárzana explained. The University filed the corresponding complaints for those cases.
UNAM’s decision is not without debate. Since the beginning of the scandal, the dissenters split into two groups: those demanding the entrance exam be repeated in person, and those asking to respect the results. Dozens of students are already set up to protest at the rectorate building, in Ciudad Universitaria, south of Mexico City. “Cheating not only harms the institution, but also the social fabric […] I ask for an effort to prepare for the test: trust in your abilities,” Lomelí concluded.
Between May and June, more than 158,000 people took the online and remote exam to apply for one of the 21,962 coveted spots in the bachelor’s programs at the best public university in Mexico and Latin America. Once the results were published on July 17, during the University’s vacation period, several analysts found irregularities compared to the historical average of pass rates. Accusations and suspicions grew until the University had to halt registrations to ensure that access was granted “under equal conditions for all applicants.”
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The online exam had a dozen security measures such as the use of a special browser, identity validation, and recording of the student’s environment, which were not enough. To carry it out, UNAM hired the Mexican company Territorium Life “for its experience in administering online exams,” Bárzana explained. Even so, anomalies were detected such as an unusual increase in perfect scores and outstanding grades under suspicion of fraudulent practices.
Until this year, admission to the bachelor’s degree was applied in person for decades. UNAM summoned applicants to schools in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area at venues such as the university’s own facilities, private schools, and centers linked to the University, adapted to accommodate hundreds of thousands of students. The institution defended the change to the online modality as a more inclusive measure. According to the explanation, this option would facilitate the participation of young people from other states of the country and even from abroad, who would no longer have to travel to Mexico City to take the test.
UNAM’s resolution comes after a week of analysis by a commission of 16 experts. Nearly 160,000 applicants, as well as more than 28,000 students who already have a place through direct admission from the university high school, waited anxiously.
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