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The Ministry of Higher Education (MES) of Cuba defended this Wednesday that entrance exams remain "the best formula" for organizing access to university, just one day after announcing their exceptional suspension for the 2026-2027 academic year due to the energy crisis paralyzing the country.
The director of Income and Labor Placement at MES, René Sánchez Díaz, held a press conference broadcast by Canal Caribe to explain the new access mechanism, in which he acknowledged the contradiction between what the regime considers ideal and what the reality of the country allows.
"We continue to maintain that the best way to organize access to higher education is through standardized exams. We have not discussed this; we have no doubts about it. However, we are facing a very difficult situation," the official stated.
Sánchez Díaz explained that, in light of the inability to conduct the exams, the MES chose to rank the candidates based on their pre-university grades, specifically the cumulative academic index, combined with the career preference form already filled out by each student.
"The most sensible and representative approach that respects the students is to base it on their pre-university grades. There is nothing better than that. The best option is to combine that with entrance exams. But after that, this is the best," he said.
The official argued that the pre-university grades "reflect the student's trajectory," are "recognized" by him, and are "transparent because everyone knows the grades that each person has."
Sánchez Díaz also stated that this year there are enough university spots for everyone wishing to pursue a degree: "Everyone who wants a university spot will have it guaranteed in numerical terms."
The Cuban government suspended the entrance exams exceptionally on Wednesday, a decision that was announced along with the early closure of the school year, as reported by Radio Angulo.
The decision represents a sharp turn: just in March 2026, the MES had confirmed that the exams would take place on June 5 (Mathematics), June 9 (Spanish), and June 12 (Cuban History).
The suspension is not an isolated event. In April, the IPVCE Federico Engels de Pinar del Río had already canceled its exams due to a lack of fuel, replacing them with a ranking based on academic records, anticipating what would later be implemented on a national scale.
The deterioration of the university admissions system has a long-standing history. In 2024, only 50.4% of the 21,942 candidates passed all three exams. In 2025, only 51.5% of the 18,402 who took the exams —out of a total of 22,804 registered— managed to pass all three subjects, with Mathematics consistently yielding the poorest results.
Since 2020, the MES has progressively relaxed access requirements: that year, Sánchez Díaz himself stated that "passing the entrance exams is not essential to secure a slot," and in 2021 and 2022, programs were granted even to those who failed or did not attend the exams.
"There is no better way, aside from entrance exams, to regulate access to higher education than this," concluded the official, in a statement that summarizes the paradox of the Cuban educational system: to uphold as optimal what the regime's own crisis has made unfeasible.
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