REGULAÇÃO DO ENSINO SUPERIOR A DISTÂNCIA EM PORTUGAL / REGULATION OF DISTANCE HIGHER EDUCATION IN PORTUGAL

The regulation of the Legal Regime for Higher Distance Education in Portugal, through DL 133/2019, brings with it ideas and speeches that dispute its influences in the definition of higher education educational policies. This legal framework poses challenges to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in terms of the necessary adaptations of degree conferencing courses in distance education (EAD), in order to meet the accreditation criteria defined by the Higher Education (A3ES). Assuming that the process of implementing this legal regime corresponds to a process of interpretation and reintroduction. The question this article seeks to answer is: What are the ideas that led to the approval of DL 133/2019? The objective of this work is to understand the development of the political process, taking into account the ideas that legitimized and justified the approval of the legal framework. It is a qualitative article that mobilizes the policy cycle as a theoretical-methodological device. Thematic analysis based on three interviews with privileged informants and the field notes collected at international reference events is carried out to identify the ideas conveyed by international, national and institutional actors in the context of influence.