Territorium retains evidence of UNAM exam cheating; contract allows storage of aspirant audio and video
Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
News
Documents & data
Context piece
- Territorium Life, the company contracted for UNAM's online entrance exam, is responsible for storing all audio and video evidence of misconduct.
- The contract, worth over 100 million pesos, stipulated that the platform would generate individual reports on aspirants who committed prohibited acts and provide real-time monitoring.
- UNAM announced a new in-person control exam for accepted students and top-scoring aspirants due to the crisis caused by cheating during the online test.
The company Territorium Life, contracted to administer the National Autonomous University of Mexico's (UNAM) online entrance exam, is also tasked with safeguarding all audio and video evidence of prohibited activities during the test. The contract, valued at over 100 million pesos, includes provisions for the platform to generate individual reports on aspirants who engaged in misconduct and to provide real-time monitoring with detailed reports, control dashboards, and alerts from the supervision tool.
The service provider must guarantee that the system stores 100% of all audio, images, and videos of 100% of the aspiring individuals who take the exam.
The agreement mandates that the service provider must ensure the system stores 100% of the audio, images, and videos of all aspirants taking the exam. The platform is also required to allow the generation of individual reports for each aspirant's process at any time. These reports must cover equipment validation, simulator, and exam stages, along with any evidence identified by UNAM personnel as corresponding to prohibited conduct.
In response to the crisis stemming from cheating during the online exam, UNAM announced on Friday that it would administer a new in-person control exam for those already accepted and for top-scoring aspirants who did not secure a spot. Rector Leonardo Lomelí apologized to affected aspirants and urged students to refrain from cheating.
The platform must allow the generation of individual reports on the process of each aspiring individual at all times. This must include the stages of equipment validation, simulator, and exam, as well as all evidence identified by UNAM personnel as corresponding to prohibited conduct.
An annex to the contract specifies that Territorium Life's system should only allow authorized personnel to generate and obtain evidence from the exams upon demand, including photos, videos, and audio captured by the surveillance system and alerts. A technical commission created by UNAM to review the 2026-2027 undergraduate admission process will begin a new phase of investigation to determine how the decision to move to a digital test was made and what factors led to the detected anomalies. Alma Maldonado, a researcher and commission member, stated that the commission will investigate the entire process, from the decision for an online exam to its development and the detected anomalies.
What follows is to investigate the process, what happened, how it happened, from the decision of the online exam to how this whole process developed.
DistantNews Editorial
Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.
More Stories
From Our Blog
What Press Freedom Means for the News You Read
What Gets Lost (and Found) When News Is Translated
The Critical Role of Diaspora Media in Global News
What Travellers Should Know About Countries with Restricted Press
A Digital Nomad's Guide to Following Local News
