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Bilbao Courts Order EHU to Suspend Basque PAU Marks for Plaintiffs

Evidence suggesting anonymity may have been breached led judges to pause Basque exam grades to protect students’ access to university places.

Overview

  • Several Contencioso-Administrativo courts in Bilbao ruled on Monday, June 29, 2026 that UPV-EHU must not use Lengua Vasca y Literatura II grades for the students who sued and must provisionally reserve their university places while the cases proceed.
  • Judges based the precautionary orders on prima facie signs that anonymity in correction may have been broken, citing the UPV-EHU rector’s remark that examiners can identify which schools provided each tribunal’s papers.
  • The measures are temporary and affect only the several dozen students who filed lawsuits and requested urgent relief, not the entire cohort of PAU takers.
  • A wider wave of zeros and very low marks prompted 1,778 students to request reviews, with most zeros concentrated in one tribunal that covered many concerted model A schools, raising concerns about uneven grading patterns.
  • Courts said urgency from the imminent pre-enrolment deadline and the risk students would irreversibly lose places justified immediate action, and a full judicial review of the administrative record and possible appeals will decide next steps.