Distance university education increases 474% in ten years in Brazil

The number of Brazilian students taking distance university and tertiary courses increased by 474 percent in a decade, according to the higher education census released Friday by the Ministry of Education.

The jump occurred between 2011 and 2021, a year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced institutions and students to adopt distance education as an alternative.

The data are part of the Higher Education Census 2021 released by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Studies Anísio Teixeira.

“The census confirms the trend of distance education over the years.

In 2019 for the first time in history, the number of enrolled in distance education surpassed in the private ones the face-to-face graduation courses,” indicated the National Institute of Education and Research (Inep).

The president of Inep, Carlos Moreno, said that the results of the census point out, in a concrete way, where Brazilian higher education is heading and demand reflections on educational models and policies.

“The future teacher, who will act in basic education in Brazil, will have undergone distance training. So, this is a critical point to analyze the adequacy of this strategy to advance in this type of education,” he warned.