MEXICAN CITY  –  Daniel Fernando García Velázquez took the admissions exam for Mexico’s most famous university four times before finally getting the result that should have guaranteed him admission. On his first three attempts, he had no option other than to travel the 400 km (250 miles) from his native Veracruz to Mexico City to take the test, because the prestigious National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) insisted it had to be taken in person.  On his fourth – and what should have been victorious – attempt this June, he traveled up anyway, even though this time, for the first time in the university’s history, it would be administered online. This time, Velázquez aced the exam – scoring 94 out of 120 in what should have secured him a spot on the Communication and Journalism degree program offered at UNAM’s Aragón School of Higher Studies. Yet, despite that result, Velázquez doesn’t know if he will be allowed to attend the new semester that starts on August 10, because UNAM has suspended enrolment while it deals with a scandal over suspected widespread cheating. UNAM annulled thousands of tests after results showed an unusually high number of perfect scores, suggesting some students cheated either through using artificial intelligence tools or by obtaining the questions in advance. While just around 3,000 of the 150,000 or so tests have been invalidated, all students – including those who, like Velázquez, are not suspected of cheating – have been left in limbo pending the result of UNAM’s investigation into the matter. Compounding UNAM’s headache is that many of those students who feel unfairly treated are now blaming the AI surveillance system that was supposed to ensure the exam was cheat-proof.

The resulting uproar has reached the highest level of politics, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — herself a UNAM physics graduate — suggesting on Tuesday that the university enlist the help of the attorney general to get to the bottom of the matter. UNAM’s history traces back to the 16th century, when the government established what was then called the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. It was granted autonomy in 1929 and since then has become a symbol of contemporary Mexico, a center for political and social movements and a platform for social mobility in a country where private higher education is prohibitively expensive for many. As a result, competition for its places is fierce. Every year, more than 100,000 applicants apply for entry and usually between 80% and 90% are rejected. Its undergraduate admissions exam has 120 questions, and the number required to pass varies depending on the demand for each subject, with Medicine often setting the highest bar due to its popularity.

The university’s stringent entry criteria often leads to protests demanding it provide more spaces in its classrooms. UNAM had hoped that its decision to administer the test online this year would make the test more accessible and equitable to students, as they would not have to travel from across the country to the test sites, which are mainly in Mexico City and surrounding areas. To safeguard against cheating, it said a system based on artificial intelligence would “allow for the capture and recording of any behavior and action carried out by each applicant” and this would be used in support of human monitors.