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The aim of this paper is to show one of the most interesting changes that have occurred in Brazil’s higher education in recent decades, when new policies have been implemented to expand the supply of private and public sectors. In 2013, only 15% of young people aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in higher education. In the last two decades, the Brazilian government has prioritized the increase in access to higher education through the distance education.

The paper examines the institutional diversification policy in Brazilian higher education, mainly, how the Federal Government has been supporting the distance education providers. The paper analyzes the implementation of this policy in national level.

This research uses the official quantitative data about freshmen, enrolments, courses and  graduates in public and private higher education institutions during the period between 2003 and 2014. These are extracted from the Higher Education Census (Sinopse do Censo da Educação Superior) produced by the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research "Anísio Teixeira" (INEP) in Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC). Two main conclusions came up in this research. On the one hand, the data revealed an increase of the enrolments and of the courses in distance education. On the other hand, it could be observed an increase of dropouts. The paper is a contribution to the study of access in terciary education and, at the same time, it portraies one of the most innovative ways in higher education expansion in Latin America, in particular in Brazil.