This book is an extension of the report made at the request of the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC). It was presented and analyzed at the Conference Regional Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRES 2018) held in Córdoba, Argentina. In this book, one of the most recognized specialists in the field of distance education, Claudio Rama Vitale, raises the articulation of virtual education with the current digital network society and the gestation of the educational industries. The theoretical axes that support the strong development of distance and virtual education, its multiple dynamics, trends and tensions in Latin America, exposing contradictions and resistance, while giving visibility to the most prominent characteristics, its various phases are exposed and the current internationalization processes at regional level. It also provides an approach to virtual education as a fundamental right within the framework of the fourth generation of human rights.