The trajectory of the university extension in the Institute of Nutrition of UERJ from 1990 to 2014

Abstract

The institutionalization of the university extension is a reality, but little is known about its development in academic units. This paper aims to present the history of the university extension in UERJ’s Nutrition Institute (INU) in the 1990-2014 period. A historiographical study based on literature review and analysis of the collected documents in archives and institutional records of UERJ was performed. For the characterization of the 73 identified projects, the following categories were considered: project team, subject area, keyword, geographical coverage, partnerships, curriculum situation. During the period that was analyzed, there was an expansion of the teaching staff, of the allocated hours in extension activities, of the number of projects in effect each year, of its geographic scope and of the public they reached. The most frequent thematic areas were health and education, converging with the classic fields concerning Nutrition performance and the traditional aspects of the university extension. The issues related to health care, with emphasis on diseases in specific population groups, health promotion and education/training stood out. The most frequently established partnerships were given internally to UERJ, in health care and in public institutions. We only observed a connection with the undergraduate curriculum in the minority of the projects, and we only observed a relation with research in part of them. The extension of the trajectory in INU are challenges for us: we have to advance the inclusion extent in the undergraduate course’s educational projects; we have to translate, in practice, the principle of indivisibility between teaching, research and extension; and we have to expand the scope of partnerships with other sectors of the university and of the civil society.