Valdic Luiz da Silva and José Alberto Batista were students in the first class of the distance learning Chemistry course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), in Nova Cruz/RN. They graduated in 2010 and, in the following years, they met again in the Master’s and PhD courses in Chemistry, also at UFRN. The long academic partnership was reissued, now, they are part of a group of ten researchers at the University that created a new use for the ash of the sugarcane bagasse in natura.

The patented technology is a process for obtaining a compound called silica, a material that is present in several products such as paints, cosmetics, adhesives, and other materials. José Alberto highlights the EaD contribution in his academic trajectory: “it was a milestone of change in my life, I used to be a RN state public servant, I used to work in the maintenance of Sesap Hospitals and, if it wasn’t for UFRN, through SEDIS, to believe in this new way of teaching, I wouldn’t have been able to finish my graduation, since I used to work 24 hours shifts, daily, 6 days a week”.

Today, besides being a researcher, José Alberto is a public servant in two states: Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. “I have substantially improved my professional and financial life, and I owe it all to UFRN’s initiative in creating these EaD courses,” he concludes in a tone of gratitude. “EaD contributed a lot to my master’s and doctorate post-graduation, because it is a modality that allows us to study virtually and be accompanied by tutors and, sometimes, by teachers,” says Valdic Luiz, a professional colleague and partner in this journey in search of knowledge.

Valdic analyzes the employability generated from the access to distance learning higher education. According to him, most students who graduate from UFRN in the EaD modality are successful in public competitions, “I myself am an effective teacher in the Paraíba state public system, and I am currently a coordinator of the Nature Science and Mathematics area, besides being a high school Chemistry teacher”, he emphasized when talking about his professional career.

For Luciene Santos, a professor of the Graduate Program in Chemistry at UFRN, who also coordinates the University’s distance Learning Chemistry course and the research group, of which Valdic Luiz and José Alberto are members, “these students were very dedicated during the entire process of their academic life, both in the undergraduate, master’s and doctorate levels and, in this study, which generated two patents, they were the main authors, it was a great pleasure to guide them and the University reaped many fruits with their work.

Bruno Cássio – Communication Advisor of SEDIS/UFRN.