Online higher education: the strict requirements the CNA decreed to ensure the quality of digital degree programs and courses

Describing it as "a structural and expanding phenomenon," the National Accreditation Commission (CNA) classifies the explosive growth of online higher education in two directives dated October 1 of this past month, titled "Guidelines for Institutional Self-Assessment for Training in Distance or Blended Learning Modalities." One is aimed at universities and the other at professional institutes and technical training centers, thus covering all institutions in the system. With these guidelines, the evaluating body for higher education institutions—and the sole authority responsible for assigning the level and years of mandatory accreditation to them—seeks to raise and equalize the standard and quality of this digital educational modality, the same one that in 10 years skyrocketed by no less than 607.2%. The CNA states that "enrollment growth in the distance modality is no longer marginal, but a central pillar of the system." According to data from the Higher Education Information Service (SIES), online education represents in 2026 17.7% of the total enrollment of the system as a whole and 15.1% of total undergraduate enrollment. The evaluating institution indicates that, at a global level, this phenomenon has brought to light "gaps in access, quality, integrity, and inclusion. Moreover, it has prompted both quality assurance agencies and education institutions to rethink their regulatory frameworks and quality assurance strategies, explicitly incorporating digital components into internal and external processes." The National Accreditation Commission issued two directives with requirements to ensure the quality of digital degree programs and courses. Thus, through some thirty questions for each subsystem (university and technical-professional), the CNA included in the respective dimensions of the current evaluation criteria and standards explicit requirements to ensure that the various online and blended programs are pertinent to the needs of society, strongly aligned with the future employability of the educational offering; that they are equivalent in quality and outcomes of the educational process compared to in-person education; that they are aligned with the institutions' educational projects, with roots in the organizational structure; that they place student well-being, support, and coexistence at the center, in addition to requiring a faculty trained in this modality and adequate technological infrastructure that enables the progressive increase in online enrollment (see the two directives at the end of this article). The evaluating institution also includes, in each of the new quality items, a series of background materials to facilitate the evidence and fulfillment of this new standard, which will be required starting October 1, 2027, formally becoming part of the self-assessment that precedes each accreditation process. That is, the current criteria and standards in force since 2023 were used. Renato Bartet, executive secretary of the National Accreditation Commission. Bartet: "We have no doubt that these guidelines will be incorporated from now on" Renato Bartet, executive secretary of the CNA, explains to LT Educa the motivations they had for addressing the phenomenon of digital higher education: "We want to stimulate the improvement of the system and provide signals to institutions about how the quality criteria we evaluate are expressed in these modalities and what aspects we expect them to analyze and explain in their accreditation processes. We also seek to establish some conceptual clarifications. For example, we indicate that mere telepresence—that is, delivering instruction solely by videoconference—does not by itself constitute distance education." According to the authority, it is entirely possible to achieve equivalence between modalities, understanding that this is not synonymous with homogeneity. "Student profiles may be different, and those differences must be considered when interpreting outcome indicators. It is reasonable that those who work and have dependents take fewer courses per semester and, therefore, require more time to graduate. Likewise, the reasons why they interrupt their studies may differ from those observed in the in-person modality. Furthermore, the boundaries between modalities are increasingly less rigid: today, much of in-person education incorporates virtual learning management platforms as support for teachers and students," he asserts. The suitability of the academics responsible for implementing online education is considered by the CNA to be one of the critical aspects for its success, since—Bartet maintains—"to achieve higher education-level learning, the role of the professor is even more critical in this modality. Academics trained in the use of technology and in the teaching strategies specific to this modality are required, who know which resources to use and in what sequence to achieve the expected learning. This includes knowing when to resort to virtual forums, self-assessment activities, group work, simulators, case analysis, or reinforcement and, more recently, how to support the use of artificial intelligence incorporated into the most advanced platforms." Although these guidelines will become mandatory next year, the executive secretary of the CNA indicates that "we did not want to disturb the self-assessment processes currently underway with these guidelines, so that institutions can incorporate them from now on into the processes that will formally begin at the CNA in a year. But, regardless of their effective date, since accreditation evaluates institutional performance, we have no doubt that they will be incorporated from now on." The new regulatory questionnaire for online education Compliance with the new requirements for all higher education institutions that provide distance and blended education is based on 30 questions for the technical-professional subsector and 31 for the university subsector. However, many of them are identical for both: Employability of the academic offering: What mechanisms does the institution use to safeguard the relevance and coherence of the distance academic offering in relation to its institutional purposes and the occupational and territorial contexts toward which it is oriented, considering that it could eventually enroll students residing anywhere in the country or abroad? -How does the institution ensure that the information provided to students, before and during their educational trajectory, clearly and verifiably communicates the employment opportunities associated with the program delivered in distance or blended modality, considering possible territorial differences in the labor market and the possible need for geographic mobility to practice the profession? Growth of the distance offering: How does the institution plan and manage the growth of the offering, openings, and enrollment of programs delivered in distance or blended modality, ensuring that expansion is consistent with sufficient institutional capacities to maintain the quality of the educational process? Equivalence of learning outcomes: What mechanisms does the institution use to ensure that the distance or blended modality allows fully achieving the defined graduate profile and learning outcomes, guaranteeing, where applicable, equivalence in outcomes with other modalities? Educational project: Does the institution have specific definitions for distance or blended education in its educational project or model and in the curricular and didactic policies and mechanisms that operationalize its academic definitions? Organizational structure: Does the institution have an organizational structure, policies, regulations, and coordination mechanisms that are adequate and effective for managing the distance or blended modality? Suitable faculty: Does the institution have policies or procedures for the recruitment, selection, and development of the faculty based on the specific competencies or skills required to deliver programs in distance or blended education modality? How does it evaluate their effectiveness in terms of teaching quality and learning outcomes? Student support: Does the institution have support strategies for the teaching and learning process specific to the distance or blended modality? Do these consider personalized learning? How does it promote the active engagement of students in their educational process? How does it guarantee and ensure an adequate and sufficient teacher-student relationship? Educational equivalence: Does the institution's quality assurance system consider specific mechanisms to ensure that the educational and service experience of distance or blended students is equivalent across programs or other modalities? Technological infrastructure: Does the institution have policies and mechanisms that ensure the technological infrastructure and digital resources are of the quality required by its educational processes and are updated to guarantee access, availability, stability, usability, security, and continuity of distance or blended education? Download the directive for universities. Download the directive for professional institutes and technical training centers.