Integrating university extension into teaching and research in Administration: systematization of experience with indigenous people in the light of the objectives of sustainable development

Abstract

This study addresses the challenges of integrating research and teaching, from university extension program, as an important strategy to materialize the quality of academic training in Management towards the objectives of sustainable development (ODS). The action, object of study, is developed by the Department of Administrative Sciences and Department of Public Administration and Social Management of UFRN in collaboration with other departments and campuses of the same institution. The development of the action occurred in the Association of the indigenous community of Mendonça do Amarelão, in the municipality of João Câmara / RN. The objective of this study was to understand how problem situations are formulated for a university-society partnership in search of sustainable development through research projects, and how these actions feedback the education system. The research was carried out through action research (THIOLLENT, 2003) and a qualitative approach in data analysis. The systematization of common problems and needs (community-university) has led to a central theme under which action has been taken: the management of short production circuits, with emphasis on achieving food and nutritional sovereignty and security, promoting sustainable agriculture and ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns. It was noticed that the community is oriented to the valorization, recognition and preservation of the local resources, important to the accomplishment of the ODS. In this sense, in addition to the very condition of indigenous peoples, such as those related to the territory, there are local obstacles related to productive capacity management and production organization, bureaucratic, commercial and gender, that impact on their food security and sovereignty and require interdisciplinary debate , with several fields of knowledge and teachers involved with the current needs of society to align them with the teaching environment and with research questions in proposing the necessary referrals to the technical-scientific and cultural development and the citizen training of UFRN graduates, highlighting the university extension program as an integrating link between research and teaching and making possible the construction of a unified interdisciplinary proposal that recognizes education as an emancipatory and continuous practice of the human being.