Edtech

UOL EdTech is a technology company determined to transform education over the course of the entire student journey: through primary and secondary school, university, and into your career. Based in Brazil, it is the largest EdTech ecosystem in Latin America, with three business verticals. Its B2C ‘after school' platform, Passei Direto, is the largest in the country and provides courses and content directly to over four million higher education, secondary, and primary school students. The two other verticals are B2B: a corporate training platform used by over two million employees; and OPM (online program management), whereby UOL EdTech partners with universities to provide graduate and undergraduate courses to over 150,000 students. CEO Alex Augusto spoke to us about how education can change lives in Brazil.

What word defines UOL EdTech's mission?

Opportunity. Everything we do is about empowering students, graduates, and companies.

We believe only education can create autonomy, productivity, and opportunity to improve society for the future. Research from the OECD shows that the financial benefits of higher education are greater here in Brazil than in any of the other 37 countries they cover. It contributes to a salary increase of between 235% and 445% for higher education graduates when compared to people who have not had that opportunity. But even though we are the fifth largest education market in the world – with almost 60 million students – and second in time spent online, we were ranked 60th out of 81 countries in the OECD's latest evaluation of national education systems: the Programme for International Student Assessment.

As a nation, we have a lot of social inequality that we need to overcome. This will only be achieved by increasing the reach of quality education.

How big is the opportunity to disrupt the market for education in Brazil and how is UOL EdTech bringing about change?

There is a huge opportunity for technology to transform the market for education in Brazil: in the last three years, the number of students here who are considering distance learning has almost doubled from 40% to 76%.

At UOL EdTech, we have created a unique and integrated ecosystem of technology solutions and platforms that enable this shift, making quality education more accessible and supporting people to learn continuously.

It starts with our online study network for secondary and higher education, Passei Direto – the largest in Brazil. It's especially well-known amongst university students and a rich content repository, with more than 15 million classes and exercises.

We're also Brazil's biggest player in OPM, providing 100% online undergraduate and graduate courses in partnership with some of our best universities to students all over the country.

Our solutions for talent management and online employee training complete and connect our ecosystem, at a time when it has never been more important for companies to train, retrain, and engage their employees.

So, we have students who used our study networks at high school and university, then enrolled in one of our graduate courses, and now work at major companies in Brazil that provide training via our platform. Throughout their entire lives, they have been engaging with the UOL EdTech ecosystem.

How does artificial intelligence improve the learner experience?

Essentially, it makes everything easier for students and helps them to learn faster.

Our learners are often from low-income families, working to pay for their studies and support their families. Time is a luxury they don't have. They need tailored, targeted solutions that can help them quickly.

AI enables us to provide this. We use our own knowledge base to provide students with specific, hyper-targeted material from their university or school. Where the material they need doesn't already exist, we use AI to generate that content.

Beyond finding answers to the questions people seek, our AI unearths more in-depth and related materials, in case they need to dive further into the topic. It generates content, such as summaries and study plans; it curates the content on the platform by categorizing, correcting mistakes, and setting quality scores; and it personalizes content recommendations for. We also use AI in virtual tutoring, to provide instant answers to questions –and even photo and image prompts.

AI is an important tool that enables us to be a one-stop shop for educational support so that people can succeed in their studies.

How do you know that your platform is making a difference to your students?

I mentioned that many customers of our B2C platform, Passei Direto, are what we call ‘working students', who may struggle to afford and manage their studies in addition to their personal and working lives. 53% have family incomes under $630 and 40% have children. Our platform makes school less expensive and more efficient for them.

The feedback we've had has been overwhelming. 76% believe Passei Direto has saved them from failing; 83% feel more motivated to graduate; and 84% believe their performance in their studies has improved since they started using the platform.

Those numbers matter to us. Not only do they show us that our platform is working, but also that our students are on track to succeed at school, which represents a life-changing milestone for most of them.

How are you helping companies?

In the digital age, talent, upskilling, and reskilling is more important than ever. According to one Gartner study, talent scarcity is one of the three biggest challenges facing companies. That need is answered, in part, by our company platform, Learning Rocks, which has evolved to offer personalized learning experiences and rich educational content based on new consumption habits established by social networks and streaming platforms.

Our ‘AI Course Studio' solution is a new way for companies to fast track the creation of employee training programs. What took 30 days to be developed and made available to employees can now be done in minutes. As well as saving time, it scales the amount of content that can be produced internally by companies without significantly increasing costs. Making it easier and more affordable for companies to provide their employees with training.

As the largest EdTech company in Brazil, how do you define your role in the broader education industry?

Working in the sector, I have beliefs about education and technology and how they should be combined. One of my core beliefs is that technology should be used in education to bring people closer together, not to push them apart.

Today, it can seem like the more technological resources we have, the more distant we become from each other. But education is about being connected, sharing experiences and knowledge from one person to another, wherever those two people are.

So, at UOL EdTech, yes, we are disrupting the education market, but not by encouraging people to become more isolated. We're doing it with new tools that enhance the learning process and strengthen connections between people.

How do you envisage the future of work, and what role will UOL EdTech play in shaping that future?

Today, more than ever, knowledge is the key to accessing bigger and better opportunities, in life and at work – we believe that technology can help people access this knowledge.

We talked earlier about the increase in students considering distance learning. On top of that, the number of new higher education online students in Brazil has overtaken the face-to-face model since 2022. This shows a technological transformation of the education market in our country and will lead to more opportunities for all.

At the same time, the massification of learning technologies has introduced a quality challenge that all stakeholders across the global EdTech industry must confront. For us, quality is non-negotiable; we are not here to just ride the trend. We are here to use technology as a lever to improve the quality of the learning process.

We believe the future is founded on today's education. Students, professionals, universities, and companies preparing for the future need quality education that is accessible and integrated at every stage of life. Our role is to provide this.

What ‘impossible dreams' do you think AI will enable UOL EdTech to achieve in the field of education?

Let's first explore the ideal learning process. In a perfect world, the teacher would be able to understand the student's difficulties and respond immediately – and the student would be able to react in real time and fix their mistakes.

Unfortunately, we don't have enough teachers for every student in the country to get one-to-one attention. To teach at scale, we've had to break that model. Instead, we have many students per teacher; sometimes there's no teacher, just a screen. We've also had to standardize books, subjects, and classes, removing another layer of the personalization that is part of the ideal learning process.

With AI, we can achieve the dream of the perfect learning experience – at scale.

Content doesn't have to be standardized; through AI we can personalize materials, subjects, and lessons to each student's needs, learning style and ability. We can provide reactive teaching, with students asking questions and getting feedback in real time. Virtual tutors can work with each student individually for one-to-one interaction.

By creating this ideal teaching process, people everywhere, including those from low-income backgrounds who may never otherwise have access to this kind of high-quality education, will be able to improve their lot in life.

SoftBank champions the philosophy of happiness through the information revolution. How does this resonate with you personally?

I believe that happiness can be found through autonomy. That can only be achieved through education and self-improvement. Education puts us in charge of our own futures, enables us to improve our lives and create a better, more equal society for all. By providing wider access to high-quality education, we enable our students to reach their potential and achieve personal growth and happiness.