This article recuperates the history of the Master's Degree Course in Educational Technology, initiated in 1973, at the Institute of Space Research, in São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo whose goal was to prepare qualified personnel for the SACI Project - Advanced System in Educational Communication. It presents a synthesis of the Project which was aimed at the use of satellites for the transmission of radio and television programmes for primary schools and also explains the choice of Rio Grande do Norte as the pilot experience. It relates how after the closure of the SACI Project activities, the possibility of transferring the Master's course in educational technology to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) was considered. However, this field was only incorporated as the first field of study for the Master's Course in Education. The article further explains the creation of the doctoral programme in education at UFRN and the difficulties faced in implanting the postgraduate programme, at present one of the strongest in the North and Northeast of the country.
educational technology; SACI Project; postgraduate programme in education at UFRN