Extensão universitária e o processo de curricularização: percepções dos discentes no contexto da formação em saúde

Abstract

University Extension is an interdisciplinary, educational, cultural, scientific and political process that promotes transformative interaction between the university and other sectors of society. Considering the importance of extension in the academic environment, the National Education Plan, through Law nº 13.005/2014, establishes that Higher Education Institutions must ensure at least 10% of the total curricular credits required for graduation in programs and university extension projects. The mandatory nature of the extension curriculum emerged from the need to implement the constitutional principle of inseparability between teaching, research and extension. As this is an innovative theme with incipient discussions in the local reality, the study in question assumed the perspective of analyzing the perceptions of students in the health area about the extension curricularization process. The qualitative, exploratory research was carried out in a Public Higher Education Institution in Alagoas. As a methodological procedure for data collection, a semi-structured interview was used with students from undergraduate health courses, included in the University's extension projects. For the systematization of the data, the Bardin Content Analysis Technique was used, in the thematic modality. The results indicated that students perceived that there was a gap between what was said and what was practiced at the university about the curricularization process of the Extension. It also showed that the devaluation of extension is still something present in the academic environment and pointed out the need for in-depth discussions on the subject, involving the entire academic community. Considering the results pointed out in the investigation, the study presents as a product an educational video that aims to contribute with more information and dissemination of extensionist practices in the studied context. It concludes that the extension curriculum process is complex and executed, needing to be built from an extension of pedagogical extension, with mechanisms that collectively take effect, from its extension at the University.