Identifying the Target Audience Profile of Graduate Education in the Distance mode, in Brazil: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Distance education (DE), a learning process where some parts of the knowledge transmission is remotely conducted , has developed fast in Brazil and has been considered an important educational alternative, due to its great potential for social inclusion. Although both the enrollment and the offer of undergraduate courses have grown significantly in recent years, a persistent problem for the enhancement of this learning alternative is the lack of quantitative and qualitative information about the student population. In order to try to fill this gap, this paper aims to identify the main specific characteristics of this group of students using data from the Higher Education Census 2009 and the results of the Socio-Economic Survey of ENADE 2009, then providing suggestions for the customization and improvement of the undergraduate courses offered via DE in Brazil.

Keywords

• Educação a distância
• Marketing Educacional
• Segmentação mercadológica