Democratization of Access to Higher: The Distance Education in Brazil Perspective

Abstract

This paper highlights the distance education in Brazil that, with information and communication
technologies and its spread in society, becomes an actual possibility, adopted by educational
institutions and organizations. The great growth of this mode of teaching points to the urgent and
first path for the democratization of access to higher education and continuing training, with
quality, across the country. It is not just a simple insertion of technologies but also of changes in
pedagogical conceptions, approaching the student to contemporary reality, increasingly
connected to the Internet. There is a need for a reformulation of public policies so that the
technology can converge with the education, in a collaborative way. It is highlighted the social
responsibility of higher education in advancing the knowledge in issues related to culture,
economy, society, science and policy to meet the global challenges arising from education, work
and generation of income.