Abstract:

The study was carried out with students who attended the 12th grade, in 2018, in Mozambique, in ten districts and an equal number of schools, in each of which a class of the level under study was randomly selected. The districts were selected based on the availability of collaborators, namely professionals of education to be a part of the study, as Focal points. The Focal points applied the questionnaires and returned the answers by mail. The integration of Focal points in this study was due to the researcher's difficulty in being present in all districts, because of the country size, the necessary time and available logistics.

This study aimed to know the motivations for not pursuing higher education studies after completing secondary education. The study is of a mixed nature, joining quantitative and qualitative analysis, and based on a descriptive paradigm. For data collection 500 self-administered questionnaires were used. The questionnaires were distributed in physical format, due to fear of the lack of computer equipment in these districts, and also the lack of Internet connection.

The 416 questionnaires returned with valid answers were analyzed in this study. Five interviews were also carried out, with school leaders, namely directors and pedagogical directors, as key informants, because they were an integral part of the community where the study took place.

For data analysis of the questionnaires, the statistical software SPSS 2.0 was used. The data from the interviews was object of content analysis. The study results indicate that students who lives in rural areas rarely and/or never attend Higher Education, due to a disadvantage of socioeconomic condition, namely: low family income and, consequently, low purchasing power; low school performance of students; weak exploitation of Information and Communication Technologies in educational contexts, including cultural factors.

Part of the results of this study corroborate the conclusions of other studies, which were the basis of the theoretical framework of this study. However, we believed that Distance Education based on digital environments may be an opportunity for rural students to pursue higher education studies.

Keywords:

Access to Higher Education, Distance Education, Information and Communication Technology, Rural population, Socioeconomic conditions, Mozambique.