Only 51.5% of applicants passed the entrance exams for university in Cuba

The process of entering higher education in Cuba showed a slight improvement compared to the previous year, although overall results remain low and unequal.

Thus reported the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) while presenting the preliminary data for the current school year, as stated by the official newspaper Granma.

According to Deisy Fraga Cedré, director of Undergraduate Professional Training, of the 22,804 applicants, only 18,402 took the exams, and of those, only 51.5% passed the three required subjects: Mathematics, Spanish, and History of Cuba.

The figure, which represents an improvement of just one percentage point compared to last year, highlights the persistent challenges within the education system to ensure that the majority of applicants can gain access to university through this route.

The official explained that a portion of the students did not show up because they had gained admission through other means, such as university colleges or academic competitions, but did not specify the impact of that figure on the total.

Among the subjects evaluated, Spanish once again topped the results, with over 91% passing and 65.5% scoring above 80 points.

Cuba's history also showed a positive trend with 70.1% of high grades.

However, Mathematics continues to be the biggest hurdle, recording the worst results and a decline of four percentage points compared to the previous year.

The authorities did not provide a clear explanation for this sustained decline, but it highlights a crisis in the Cuban educational system.

At the provincial level, Santiago de Cuba, Pinar del Río, and Granma had the best performances, while Isla de la Juventud and Holguín showed declines, highlighting territorial disparities in student preparedness.

The MES announced a special call for those who could not attend the regular exams for justified reasons, with the following dates: Mathematics on June 23, Spanish on June 25, and History on June 27.

René Sánchez Díaz, director of Income and Job Placement, stated that 97.3% of the students who passed the three exams secured a career of their choice, which he described as a "favorable satisfaction rate."

However, behind that figure lies a structural reality: of the more than 14,000 positions granted, around 5,000 were awarded without the need to take the tests, through alternative pathways such as competitions, university colleges, and direct selection based on performance.

This year, additionally, the fields of Medicine and Nursing will be incorporated into the university colleges, aiming to attract high-potential students from an early stage.

Days before the overall results of university admissions in Cuba were announced, signs of low student performance had already been reported in various provinces. In Las Tunas, for example, only 464 students managed to pass the exams, which accounted for just 16.7% of the total, a figure that raised alarms about the effectiveness of the educational process leading up to the tests.

In Guantánamo, the data was also not encouraging. More than half of the candidates failed the exams, especially in the subject of Mathematics, which has historically been the worst-performing subject at the national level.

This scenario highlighted a formative crisis that could not be attributed to isolated factors, but rather to a structural issue within the educational system.

Despite these early warnings, the regime had already put forth a plan to award university degrees to students without the need to take exams.

Through mechanisms such as academic competitions, university colleges, or direct selection based on performance, the aim was to ensure that positions were filled, regardless of actual performance on the tests.

Frequently asked questions about university admission in Cuba