Equity and Quality in Higher Education in Brazil: access through Distance Education

In recent years distance education has been gaining recognition as a type of education suitable for the achievement of goals of public policy. Through the Open University of Brazil (UAB), the Ministry of Education (MEC), since 2005, has been offering thousands of vacancies in upper-level courses free of charge, through public institutions of higher education, relying on municipal places face to face. This article aims to propose a discussion on skills training in higher education. Discusses the concept of educational quality must be present in the debates, forums and seminars, not only of representatives of education, but also with the participation of civil society, to be defined public policies that advance the development and privilege the well-being human. The understanding is that the quality of higher education will take from academic processes fair and that the role of the university is to promote access and knowledge to improve human development, social, economic and environmental. It was part of research studies on quality and equity, that words are a guide for setting up a higher education accountable and committed to human and social development. The interpretation of the results of research indicates that these federal government initiatives to improve quality of basic education in Brazil and to promote equality of opportunity, with the combined distance education, taking the areas with poor access to education, covering a portion of the population who have difficulty in accessing university education.