O compromisso regional das universidades comunitárias por meio da extensão

Transformações no contexto de mercantilização

Abstract

Historically, extension is the mediation by which regional community universities link with the community. This article, supported by a field study, studies the extension in community institutions, given the context of market competition they have experienced recently. It analyzes the features assumed by extension in community model: does it still focus on demands for development of their regional communities? Or do rearrangements in the name of sustainability weaken these features? It is based on the notions of public and private good in higher education and academic capitalism. It is evidenced a shift of the community model towards a sustainable extension, but it does not mean a complete withdrawal of the commitment to social demands from community. The extension in the curricula is a potential in the sense of revitalizing an extension committed to the public good, capable of reconnecting community HEIs with the social commitment that is their origin mark.