Cruzeiro Growth 0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0.0000      Cruzeiro do Sul Educacional (Cruzeiro or the University) is one of the largest educational groups in Brazil, with 238,300 students enrolled in many areas of the country, ranging from primary and secondary levels, to higher education. They operate 5 schools, with 5,200 students, and 17 university campuses in the state areas of Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Rio Grande do Sul in the south and Joao Pessoa in the northeast. They have 127,500 students enrolled in tertiary education, and 110,800 students in distance education, providing support with 490 regional centres throughout all of Brazil. Its university students follow mostly undergraduate degrees (92%) with the remaining 8% enrolled in postgraduate studies.   The University has a Project for acquisitions of higher education institutions in Brazil, and for investment expenditures in these institutions to improve their service standards and increase their course offering, both in presence and distance education. Cruzeiro has already disclosed their acquisition interest in Centro Universitario de Joao Pessoa (Unipe) in the Northeast of the country. CADE, the antitrust authority of Brazil, has already approved this acquisition to proceed in the coming months. In addition to Unipe, Cruzeiro has several target universities in negotiation stage, to be completed in the next two years. The areas of interest are in the south, southeast and northeast of Brazil, to complement the Universitys existing footprint. The University has grown quite rapidly its number of students, both organically and by acquisitions, having bought 5 institutions in the past 6 years, increasing the enrolment at an impressive rate of 20% per annum between 2016 and 2018. Project Level: The Project will mostly benefit students as the main stakeholders of educational institutions. By financing Cruzeiro's expansion, the University can increase the supply of quality education programs for those acquired institutions. Though Cruzeiro always maintains the name and characteristics of the regional university, Cruzeiro can add product diversity, bringing their high scored quality programs to the acquired institutions (subject to regulatory review). This has been done previously by Cruzeiro, increasing enrollment. Cruzeiro has committed to raising the standards of the acquired universities, requesting accreditation if the university lacks it, so the acquired university will be homologous to existing Cruzeiro accredited entities. Cruzeiro can provide virtual education undergraduate degrees, if not offered by the acquired institutions. They have a competitive advantage in virtual education, being the third largest provider of virtual education in the country, with some programs ranked at the top level, like human resources management or public policy. The students in these regions will benefit from the much lower tuition rates of distance learning, at 67% lower cost than tuition in presence studies, with the recognition of the Cruzeiro brand and quality. These students, mostly working adults, will now be able to attend tertiary studies, for they can adapt to the flexible hours that distance learning allows, and can afford tuition out-of-pocket, without the need of financial aid or government loans. The acquired universities will also improve their operational and administrative standards, by accessing the platform of shared services that connects all Cruzeiro institutions (e.g. virtual library with +300,000 titles and electronic documents, employability tools to aid in the mandatory internship search (estÃ¡gio), academic content online for a myriad of courses).
  
Market Creation: This Project will create competitive pressure in quality tertiary education, in the geographical regions where Cruzeiro currently operates and in the newer geographies where it is expanding, either by acquisitions or by setting up virtual education centers (polos). In the economic slowdown affecting Brazil, many youths in the 18-34-year age bracket are working rather than studying. Cruzeiro is expanding the market by providing the option of tertiary education to a population that was discouraged to enroll, due to the higher costs and demanding hours. Between the Northeast and South areas, there are 8.6m potential students in this age bracket, with no higher education degree. Cruzeiro has regulatory approval to open 750   distance centers nationwide (in addition to the existing 505 that they currently operate), that could cater to this population, and double enrollment. Cruzeiro began its distance offering recently, in 2015, and has rapidly reached 111,800 students, becoming the third largest player, with an estimated 8% share of this student enrollment. It can demonstrate the path for other universities to follow for high standards in distance learning and provide a quality service to students. These high standards are exemplified with Cruzeiro's use of innovative learning methods, used to build capacity in all its programs. Cruzeiro uses advanced technology tools like Blackboard, chatBots, machine learning and predictive analytics to upload/download content, control attendance and testing, reduce drop-out rates, improve tutoring sessions. Cruzeiro raises the quality levels of distance learning; it has 11% of its distance courses certified with the highest course score grade of 5 and 73% certified with a grade of 4. Cruzeiro enhances the campus experience in virtual education, providing use of its infrastructure to students enrolled in virtual education (libraries, IT centers, community space, 70 physical tutors on sites, all testing on site).