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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Technology

UNAM Will Keep Entrance Exams In Person After AI-Linked Problems Hit Online Test

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement Outcome reported
  • UNAM Rector Leonardo Lomelí said future entrance exams will be held in person after a technical commission found planning, coordination and operational failures in the first online test.
  • The commission reported unusually high scores and said the platform operator's system could not detect all possible misconduct, although it did not establish individual cheating.
  • UNAM plans to use multiple sites and university-controlled equipment while it develops a more robust and secure online model.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico will return to in-person entrance exams after problems with its first fully remote test. Rector Leonardo Lomelí said the university would keep exams in person until it could guarantee the necessary conditions for a secure online process.

As long as all the conditions necessary to guarantee the administration of the online exam are not in place, entrance exams will be held in person.

· Leonardo LomelíThe UNAM rector announces the return to in-person admissions tests.

Lomelí acknowledged “failures and errors” in the 2026-2027 undergraduate admissions competition. Future exams will take place at several locations to make participation easier for students across Mexico. The university plans to use equipment it controls, with the test loaded in advance.

A technical commission found shortcomings in the planning, coordination and operation of the first remote process. It said UNAM chose the online format before finalizing its contract with Territorium Life, the company operating the platform. The system could verify applicants' identities, monitor their surroundings and issue alerts, but it could not detect every possible form of misconduct.

The university and its rector recognize and accept the failures and errors that may have occurred in the remote selection competition.

· Leonardo LomelíLomelí accepts responsibility for shortcomings in the first online process.

The commission also found “atypical results,” including an increase in high scores compared with previous years. Eduardo Bárzana, who chaired the expert group, said the pattern did not prove that individual applicants had cheated. He described the crisis as having multiple causes, potentially including misconduct, problems in the exam's design and other factors. The commission could not determine the weight of each factor.

The final results showed a lack of planning and coordination, omissions and operational validation gaps.

· Eduardo BárzanaThe commission chair summarizes the findings of the technical review.

It recommended that UNAM not conduct another remote entrance exam until it has an operational, robust and secure model. It also recommended in-person sites in different regions of Mexico and consideration of locations abroad. The review followed the online exam held from May 23 to June 10 and the publication of results on July 17, after which questions arose about the increase in high scores.

The crisis had multiple causes.

· Eduardo BárzanaBárzana says the commission could not assign responsibility for the anomalies to a single factor.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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