General Overview
The Company is a private higher education organization operating in the on-campus (Hybrid Teaching) and distance learning (“DL” or “Digital Learning”) modalities in Brazil, operating in the education area since 1993 concentrated mainly in the country’s Northeast, North and Southeast regions.
As of December 31, 2024, the Company’s platform comprised 59 units, 814 DL centers and super centers (centers equipped with practical classes), distributed throughout all states in the country. The Company believes that its operations are comprehensive and diversified, with, as of December 31, 2024, on 330.3 thousand enrolled students, an increase of 5.6% compared to the 312.9 thousand students in the previous period, of which 164.9 thousand are enrolled in Hybrid Teaching undergraduate courses, 143 thousand in Digital Learning undergraduate courses, 21.1 thousand enrolled in postgraduate courses (on-campus and Digital Learning) and 1.3 thousand enrolled in vocational courses. The growth in the total student base occurred due to the focus on offering a leaner portfolio of courses dedicated to health knowledge areas, aiming to maximize the Company’s competitive advantages, related to its differentiated structure of laboratories and clinics, as well as the privileged location of its units and positioning of the brands in the cities where it operates, with the student base of health courses corresponding to 64% of the Hybrid Teaching undergraduate student base and 45% of the total undergraduate base, in addition to the fact that in Digital Learning, health courses increased their share by 3 p.p., going from 20% at the end of 2023 to 23% of the Digital Learning undergraduate student base at the end of 2024, reflecting the results of the Company’s strategy of increasing its investments in laboratories and promoting the integration of training systems of DL partner centers between the regional brands legacy with UNIFAEL.
On December 31, 2023, the Company had 312.9 thousand enrolled students, an increase of 6.0% compared to the 295.2 thousand students in 2022, of which 149.8 thousand were enrolled in Hybrid Teaching undergraduate courses, 129.3 thousand in Digital Learning undergraduate courses, 32.0 thousand enrolled in on-campus and Digital Learning graduate courses and 1.8 thousand enrolled in vocational courses.
The Company’s net revenue, between the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2024, showed an average annual growth (CAGR) of 8.7%[1], going from R$1,676,343 thousand to R$1,981,354 thousand, due to: (i) the increase in the volume of students enrolled in hybrid undergraduate courses, due to the increase in enrollment; (ii) the growth of the student base of the Medicine course, and (iii) the passing on of inflation. During this period, the Company’s total student base grew at a compound annual rate of 5.8%.
The Company’s strategy consists of creating a higher education ecosystem that operates in an integrated manner through an academic model that allows flexibility in the offer and creation of new courses and offer models in the undergraduate, graduate and continuing education segments (“life-long learning”), through brands with great regional appeal and widely recognized by students, professors and employers in each of the regions of the country in which the Company operates.
Continuing Education Ecosystem – Ser Educacional
¹This measure is not an accounting measure according to Accounting Practices Adopted in Brazil or IFRS, nor should it be considered in isolation, or as an alternative to net income, as an operating measure, or as an alternative to operating cash flows, or as a measure of liquidity and not should be considered as the basis for the distribution of dividends. Other companies may calculate this measurement differently than we do. See additional information regarding its use in table 2.5 “a” of the 2025 Reference Form.
This offer is carried out through a complete teaching platform that acts as a true academic ecosystem, based on state-of-the-art technology, quality digital content and modern campi infrastructure dedicated to providing an increasingly better experience for students at competitive tuition prices, creating a differentiated value proposition to our students.
In order to make the creation of this higher education offering ecosystem possible, Ubíqua was launched in 2021, the Company’s new academic model based on an omnipresent and structured education model, which was structured to offer active teaching methodologies and digital content modern, which allows the quick creation of new courses with a lot of flexibility (click here to watch the video).
UBÍQUA ALLOWS FLEXIBILITY IN THE CREATION OF COURSES COMBINING
PEDAGOGICAL EXCELLENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND TRAINING OF TEACHERS
The Company’s most relevant brands are: (i) in the Northeast, through UNINASSAU, Faculdades UNINASSAU and Centro Universitário 7 de Setembro – UNI7; (ii) in the North, through the Universidade da Amazônia – UNAMA, Universidade do Norte – UNINORTE and UNINASSAU; (iii) in the Midwest, through UNINASSAU; (iv) in the Southeast, with the Universidade de Guarulhos and UNINASSAU; and (v) in the South, UNIFAEL – Centro Universitário da Lapa.
The Company seeks to be close to our target audience. Thus, our on-campus teaching and digital learning units are located at strategic points in the main metropolitan regions of the regions in which we operate, especially in locations that have a high demand for higher education and that offer adequate urban infrastructure to serve our students, generating a greater perception of value to our target audience. Regarding to digital learning, in addition to the strategic location of the centers, we favor cities with a precarious offer of on-campus education and higher per capita income.
Therefore, the Company maintain a management focused on profitability, financial discipline, operational excellence and the creation of value for our shareholders, which are reflected in the quality of our financial indicators.