UNAM Ends Territorium Life Contract, Orders Three Audits

UNAM terminated its contract with Territorium Life, the vendor behind its 2026 undergraduate admission exam platform, after irregularities and suspected AI-assisted cheating affected roughly 158,000 applicants. The university ordered three audits, an internal review, an external review by Mexico's Federal Auditor's Office, and a technological audit, to assess the MX$69 million contract's award and execution. 

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has terminated its contract with Territorium Life ahead of schedule, the company that operated the online platform for the university's 2026 undergraduate admission exam. The decision follows weeks of scrutiny over irregularities detected during the test and comes alongside three separate audits into the platform and the contracting process.

The early termination allows the university to move forward with the technical reviews needed to clarify what happened during the exam. Tomás Rubio, Administrative Secretary, UNAM, added that the university paid Territorium Life MX$69.19 million (US$4 million) in 2026 for undergraduate and high school entrance exams.

The contract dispute is the latest chapter in an academic integrity crisis that has gripped Mexico's largest public university since late July. UNAM suspended undergraduate enrollment for the 2026-2027 academic cycle on July 27 after a technical commission was appointed to investigate suspected use of AI tools during the remote admission exam, a process that drew close to 158,000 applicants. UNAM confirmed evidence of cheating through phones, exam companions, and identity theft, and will require an in-person control exam for approximately 58,000 applicants who scored high enough to pass this year or in the previous five years.

Territorium Life was contracted directly by UNAM's Directorate General of School Administration in February 2026, with the university's Acquisitions Committee approving the agreement in March under provisions for technological exclusivity. Dean Leonardo Lomelí requested that Mexico's Federal Auditor's Office (ASF) review the planning, award, and execution of the contract to determine whether any party bears responsibility for the irregularities.

UNAM will now conduct three parallel audits: an internal review of the contracting process by the University Comptroller's Office, an external review by the ASF at the rector's request, and a technological audit by an outside specialized firm to determine whether the exam platform functioned as intended. Territorium Life has said its platform operated as designed and that exam integrity depends on both technological and academic safeguards, according to CNN. Reported contract terms placed the deal's value between MX$40.7 million (US$2.35 million) and MX$101.7 million (US$5.88 million), depending on the final number of exams administered.

The case has intensified debate over how Mexican universities should evaluate students as generative AI tools become more accessible. Education specialists have separately argued that institutions need to modernize evaluation frameworks as AI capabilities advance faster than the rules designed to govern them, favoring competency-based and project-based assessment models less vulnerable to AI-assisted misconduct.

For companies in education technology and public procurement, the case underscores the reputational and contractual risks tied to large digital service agreements with public institutions, particularly those awarded directly rather than through open tender. It also signals that Mexican universities may move toward stricter technical vetting when outsourcing high-stakes assessment infrastructure. UNAM said it will communicate further decisions on the 2026-2027 admissions process once the technical commission completes its work and the control exam is scheduled.