Digital technology is present in people's lives every day, especially in the lives of young people. Therefore, access to the internet is one of the ways in which knowledge is disseminated and constructed, becoming the focus of today's society. information can be easily accessed through virtual networks, resulting in dramatic changes in the process of acquiring and building knowledge. In Brazil, there is distance education, which uses new technologies as a means of educational development, demonstrating that access to ICT is a tool that contributes to social, economic, cultural and intellectual development. technologies with the educational institution, there is a need to use students' personal data and, therefore, there is a need for treatment on this topic, especially after the enactment of the general data protection law (LGPD). It is worth mentioning that the application of the LGPD affects all national or foreign organizations that provide products and/ or services to the national market or monitor the behavior of data subjects located in Brazil, regardless of their nationality or place of residence, including higher education., justifying the preparation of this work. The problem question is: Which data deserve greater attention from higher education institutions? The hypothesis is linked to the idea that the general law of data protection in higher education has the peculiarities of protecting personal data that are not directly linked to academic purposes. The general objective is to understand the application of the general data protection law in higher education The research to be carried out is characterized by being of a basic nature, descriptive objective and qualitative approach, initially using bibliographic sources. As a result, the confirmation of the hypothesis was achieved.
