Enrolment in distance learning prog

Enrolment in distance learning programmes makes up around 3 % of all higher education enrolment in Portugal, which is rather small compared to some European countries. Two arguments are usually advanced to explain Portugal's small DL sector: its small population base and low ICT use by its population. Neither of these arguments is very persuasive.
The small size is not explained by the size of country's population. Catalonia, for example, has a smaller population than Portugal (7M people), but its distance learning university, UOC, has a student body more than four times as large as the Portuguese counterpart, UAb.
Similarly, the relative lack of digital literacy in the adult Portuguese population is also not a convincing explanation. On the one hand, there has been a significant improvement in ICT usage in Portugal in recent years. In fact, among with those with higher education qualifications, Portugal's penetration rate of ICT is above the European average. It is true that ICT usage among the Portuguese with only basic qualifications remains very low. However, this need not be a challenge specific to Portugal as it is shared by other Southern European countries as Greece, Italy or Spain.