The Ser Educacional group was created in 1993, with the foundation of the Bureau Jurídico Educational Complex, led by Professor José Janguiê Diniz (“Janguiê”), who conducted preparatory courses for public examinations, a novelty in the city of Recife. In the same year, Janguiê began to invest in holding national and international congresses in the legal area. With the success of the brand, in 1999, the Bureau Jurídico Educational Complex started to offer specific entrance exam courses for the Law course.
In 2003, with the publication in the Diário Oficial da União of MEC‘s ordinance 1,109, Faculdade Maurício de Nassau, maintained by the ESBJ – Higher Education Bureau Jurídico Ltda., successor of the Educational Complex Bureau Jurídico, was officially founded. In parallel, it receives authorization for the operation of courses in Law, Administration, Social Communication and Biomedicine. The decision to create a college came from Professor Janguiê himself, who, recognizing the need of the local market, committed himself to the development of a quality higher education project and, knowing the history of Recife, named Faculdade Maurício de Nassau in honor to the figure of the extraordinary entrepreneur Maurício de Nassau, recognized by all Brazilians.
In just over three years of existence, Faculdade Maurício de Nassau has consolidated itself as an outstanding educational institution in the North and Northeast regions of the country, focusing its management on the growth and expansion of its structure, with the objective of making its project of expansion to the main municipalities in the North and Northeast.
In 2006, Faculdade Maurício de Nassau acquired the sponsoring institutions of João Pessoa and Campina Grande, in the state of Paraíba.
In 2007, Faculdade Maurício de Nassau implemented the Advisory Board as a way to guide its strategies. One of the main duties of the Board, together with Hopper Consultoria Educacional, was to redefine the company‘s strategic planning. In parallel with these projects, Faculdade Maurício de Nassau inaugurated the João Pessoa and Campina Grande units. In the same year, the Maurício de Nassau University Group accredited and put into operation the Joaquim Nabuco Faculty, in the city of Paulista, in the State of Pernambuco, which is a new business model, geared towards the C and D classes.
Continuing the expansion project and with the aim of consolidating our corporate governance policy, in 2008 a Board of Directors was created, composed of shareholder representatives and professionals recognized in the market for their achievements in large business groups in Brazil. In October of the same year, Cartesian Capital Group joined the Maurício de Nassau University Group with a contribution of R$48 million, now holding an 11.3% stake in ESBJ‘s total shares.
Also in 2008, Faculdade Joaquim Nabuco opened a new unit in the center of Recife, having also carried out the acquisition (i) of FABAC (CETEBA – Teaching and Technology Center of Bahia Ltda.), in the municipalities of Salvador and Lauro de Freitas, in the state of Bahia; (ii) of ESAMC (ADEA – Society for Advanced Educational Development Ltd.), located in the municipality of Maceió, in the State of Alagoas; and (iii) Faculty CDF (SECARGO – Sociedade Educacional Carvalho Gomes Ltda.), located in the city of Natal, State of Rio Grande do Norte, continuing its expansion process in the Northeast region.
In 2009, the Maurício de Nassau University Group redefined its academic guidelines and, as a consequence, unified the curricular matrices and the teaching plans of the subjects, starting the methodology of the electronic journal and the academic audit process (more information in item 1.4 of the 2023 Reference Form).
The reformulations and the growth trajectory continued in 2010, when the University Group Maurício de Nassau received the auditors from the IFC – World Bank, resulting in the approval of a credit line in the amount of R$80 million. The University Group Maurício de Nassau started the ISO 9001 implementation project, seeking to structure the Institution for certification and, as a result, reassessed and redefined all its internal processes. That same year, it was decided, after a branding work, to change its name to Ser Educacional S.A group.
Through MEC ordinance 701 in 2012, the Maurício de Nassau College, in Recife, was granted accreditation as a university center and the Faculty‘s nomenclature became UNINASSAU – Maurício de Nassau University Center. Also in 2012, UNINASSAU obtained ISO 9001 certification. In that same year, activities began at the Caruaru unit, in Pernambuco, and the units in the municipalities of Manaus and São Luís, in the States of Amazonas and Maranhão, respectively, were incorporated.
In 2013, three units were acquired in the State of Piauí (FAP Teresina, Faculdade Aliança and FAP Parnaíba), one unit in Paulista, Recife (Faculdade Destino) and one unit in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia (Faculdade Juvêncio Terra) .
Also in 2013, the year it completed 10 years of existence, the Ser Educacional group, through an initial public offering of shares (IPO), started to have its shares traded on B3, the Brazilian stock exchange , in the Novo Mercado segment, becoming part of the list of publicly traded companies with the most advanced levels of corporate governance in the market.
In 2014, the Faculdade Anglo Líder – FAL, located in the municipality of São Lourenço da Mata, in the State of Pernambuco, was acquired from the Union of Higher Education of Pará – UNESPA (“UNESPA”), sponsor of the University of Amazônia – UNAMA, in the municipality of Belém, State of Pará and the Santareno Institute of Higher Education – ISES, maintainer of Faculdades Integradas Tapajós – FIT, headquartered in Santarém, also in the State of Pará.
In 2015, continuing its expansion plan and starting to enter the Southeast region, Ser Educacional acquired, through its subsidiary CENESUP – Centro Nacional de Ensino Superior Ltda., 100% of the share capital of Sociedade Paulista de Ensino e Pesquisa S /S Ltd. (supporter of the University of Guarulhos – UNG).
That same year, the acquisition of Faculdade Talles de Mileto (FAMIL) was carried out for R$6.0 million. FAMIL had 2 units, one in Fortaleza (CE) and another in Parnamirim (RN), and also signed a Maintenance and Other Covenants Onerous Agreement with Instituto Metodista Bennett, providing for the transfer of the maintenance of Centro Universitário Bennett to UNESPA for R$10 million.
From the point of view of organic growth, in 2015, the Ser Educacional group obtained the approval of four new on-site teaching units, located in the cities of Petrolina (PE), Olinda (PE), Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE) and Feira de Santana (BA), having ended the year, therefore, with 42 units. In the distance learning (EAD) segment, the group obtained accreditation from UNG, which started to operate with 6 centers, leading the group to operate with a total of 15 centers. There was also recognition of UNINASSAU‘s EAD course, which allowed the group to file requests for the opening of more than 400 distance learning centers.
In 2016, there was an expansion of activities in the Southeast region through the signing of a Non-Onerous Assignment of Maintenance Agreement from Faculdade São Camilo (FASC), in addition to the conclusion of the Onerous Assignment of Maintenance and Other Covenants of Centro Universitário Bennett, in the city from Rio de Janeiro. For operations in the Southeast and South regions, the brand UNIVERITAS was created, with FASC now operating under the name Faculdade UNIVERITAS and Centro Universitário Bennett under the brand Centro Universitário UNIVERITAS.
UNAMA – Universidade da Amazônia was accredited to offer distance learning in Brazil. With accreditation, UNAMA will be able to launch up to 150 centers per year. As a result, the Ser Educacional group will be able to count on a total of 800 distance learning centers. The UNINABUCO Faculties of Paulista and Recife received accreditation from the MEC as a university center, which allows them to open new courses without the need for prior approval from the MEC.
On April 16, 2019, we announced, through our subsidiary CENESUP, the acquisition of UNINORTE de Manaus (Amazonas) for a base purchase price (enterprise value) of R$ 194.8 million, of which net debt in the amount of R$ 9.8 million will be deducted, as applicable.
As of 2020, the Company continued to expand its operations in higher education, gradually developing its continuing education ecosystem through the implementation of its strategy dedicated to creating avenues for generating revenue and increasing the use of its educational assets, preparing the Company for the transformations in the market in which it operates, in particular to meet the demands related to the increase in students‘ career time, needs for professional qualification and requalification and greater acceptance and participation of education through digital means.
During this period, the Company carried out 10 acquisitions that totaled more than R$900.0 million in investments, including the faculties of medicine UNIFACIMED (Cacoal, RO), UNESC (Vilhena, Ji Paraná, Cacoal and Porto Velho, RO), and UNIFASB (Barreiras, BA), which increased the Company‘s base of medical vacancies, from 321 annual vacancies (including PROUNI and FIES vacancies) to 567 annual vacancies, providing a significant increase in the participation of the Medicine course in Ser Educacional‘s results. In addition, the acquisitions of UNIJUAZEIRO (Juazeiro do Norte, CE) were made, which increased the company‘s share in the Cariri region.
The acquisitions of Edtechs began to gain space in this period, with the first acquisition in this segment being that of Beduka (www.beduka.com.br), followed by that of Starline Tecnologia, parent company of ProvaFácil (www.provafacilnaweb.com.br), and by Delínea (www.delinea.com.br).
Ser Educacional made investments in its veterinary medicine business vertical, with the acquisitions of the Centro de Desenvolvimento da Medicina Veterinária, Cursos e Treinamento Ltda. – CDMV/ Clínica Veterinária CDMV Ltda. (Rio de Janeiro, RJ), and the Plantão Veterinário Hospital Ltda./ Pet Shop Kero Kolo Ltda. (Recife, PE), through its subsidiary Clínica Escola de Saúde Uninassau Ltda. In 2022, the DOK network veterinary hospital was inaugurated in Maceió (AL), which now has 4 units with high complexity care.
In January 2022, the acquisition of UNIFAEL (Lapa, PR), announced in May 2021, was completed. in turn, it is an educational institution dedicated to digital learning (EAD) and which added more than 87 thousand students to the Company‘s total base, significantly increasing the share of this segment in the company‘s results.
In January 2023, in addition to the material fact disclosed on June 30, 2022, the Company communicated, after compliance with the precedent conditions, the conclusion of the acquisition of Sete de Setembro Ensino Superior Ltda., maintainer of the Sete de Setembro University Center – UNI7. Operating for over 20 years in Brazilian higher education, UNI7 is one of the most renowned and traditional educational institutions in Fortaleza. Centro Universitário 7 de Setembro has around one thousand and six hundred (1,600) students enrolled in its undergraduate courses in Hybrid Teaching, especially in Law, Business Administration, Engineering, and Psychology.
The development of organic growth initiatives was also relevant in this period, with emphasis, in 2021, for the implementation of Ubiqua, an innovative academic method that combines active teaching methodologies, based on the TPACK – Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge model, based on in the best pedagogical practices, high technology and flexible in the combination of modern, interactive and intuitive contents.
Ser Educacional continued to innovate in Brazilian higher education, adding services to its ecosystem, creating companies dedicated to offering services related to higher education, aiming to expand its relationship with students throughout their careers. In 2021, Ser created the first fintech dedicated to Brazilian higher education with b.Uni (www.buni.digital) and the professional social network Peixe30 (peixe30.com), which had their official launches during the first quarter of 2022. Peixe30 was highlighted in 2022, which exceeded the mark of 400 thousand users in less than a year of launch. A highlight in 2022 was also the solid growth of GoKursos and GoDigital.Edu, which have become increasingly recognized brands in the market for free digital courses.