{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]],"date-time":"2026-04-25T03:20:05Z","timestamp":1777087205870,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,24]],"date-time":"2025-12-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766534400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["This research was financed by national funds through FCT\u2014Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia, I.P., through the projects UIDB\/04372\/2020 and UIDP\/04372\/2020."],"award-info":[{"award-number":["This research was financed by national funds through FCT\u2014Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia, I.P., through the projects UIDB\/04372\/2020 and UIDP\/04372\/2020."]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Education Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This article examines how students experience and build relational ties in online higher education. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, it analyses students\u2019 lived and desired relationships across four domains: the online campus, the degree programme, teachers, and peers. One hundred and forty-four students completed an open-ended questionnaire. Their narratives informed the Relational Proximity Matrix (RPM), a framework used to map connections and distinguish transformative, functional, and residual modes of proximity. Findings indicate strong affective and supportive ties among peers, whereas interactions with teachers and the online campus are often formal or instrumental. The study concludes that relational proximity, rather than access alone, depends critically on recognition, reciprocity, and pedagogical care. The RPM offers a heuristic orientation that may inform educational design and support educators and institutions in cultivating practices that enhance relational quality.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/educsci16010028","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,24]],"date-time":"2025-12-24T16:41:19Z","timestamp":1766594479000},"page":"28","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["From Presence to Proximity in Online Higher Education: Students\u2019 Lived and Desired Relationships"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5649-276X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lu\u00edsa","family":"Aires","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"LE@D\u2014Laboratory of Distance Education and eLearning, Universidade Aberta, 1269-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"AERA (2011). 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