Entraves para a adesão à extensão universitária nas unidades acadêmicas da UFJF

Abstract

This dissertation was developed within the Professional Master in Management and Evaluation ofPublic Education (PPGP) of the Center for Public Policies and Education Evaluation (CAEd)of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF). The management case studied analyzed the adherence to the extensionist practice in the academic units of UFJF and itsmain difficulty elements. The Pro-Rectory of Extension of UFJF is responsible for registering the extension activities that should enable the transformative relationship between university and society,through dialogue and the exchange of knowledge. In the author’s work context, it was found that the distribution of the extension actions occurs in an unequal way among the academic units of UFJF. This causes some of them have difficultiesto providethe extensionist practice among its academics. This finding reveals a problem to be solved, because the National Council of Education determined that the university extension should be included in degreecurriculum until December 2021. From the scenario found, this dissertation presented as general objectivetostudy the reasons thathinderthe implementation and development of extension actions in UFJF. The specific objectives were: (1) to present the current scenario of extension in the University, as well as its own characteristics; (2) to identify and analyzethe reasons for low adhesion particularly in some UFJF units; (3) to propose actions to Proexto support the academics units to expand the number of extension programs and projects, as well as the preservation of its qualitative principles -cultural, social and political. Forthis, interviews were conducted and a questionnaire was applied to the coordinators of programs and projects of two academic units with different situation: the first with large number of extension actions and the other with small quantitative. Through the applicationof the research instruments, it was possibleto identify thatthe interpretation of respondents about the concept of extension provided conflicting versionsin UFJF. The main difficulty elementsidentified were the less appreciation of extension, when compared to teaching and research, the less investment in its activities and the bureaucracy of procedures. Based on this diagnosis, an Educational Action Plan was developed. Five actions were proposed, such as the provision of qualification moments for teachers, meetings with the units managers, improvement of procedures and the divulgation of extension actions andexecution of internal financing public notice. In this way, it’s hoped to minimize the impact of the identified obstacles to strengthen the extension in UFJF and expand the extensionist practice among the academic community.