THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSITY EXTENSION THROUGH PROJECTS IN APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The university has the capacity to contribute to social transformation and literacy through teaching, research, and extension with the aim of impacting the personal and professional development of society. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of university extension in the education of students and the community outside the university through the analysis of extension projects. However, there are still few actions of university extension aimed at communities in situations of social vulnerability, which has been one of the objectives of extension from the beginning, but most extension experiences take place within universities. Thus, the selection of the 13 articles used for this review was made through the literature of the title, abstract, and full articles found between the years 2021 to 2024 on the theme of this literature review. It is concluded that the importance of extension is reaffirmed in the results and perception of the participants, as the extension activity combines theory and practice, allowing students to understand the impacts and contradictions in the real implementation of the theory, as well as the articulation between the constitutional tripod provides critical thinking that problematizes reality and brings autonomy, contributing to the academic and professional development of students and bringing benefits to the external community that can use the university to solve social demands.