UNIVERSITY EXTENSION, CURRICULARIZATION AND CURRICULAR FLEXIBILITY: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

This article presents the results of a state-of-the-art research on university extension, focusing on curricularization and curricular flexibility, in the context of Brazilian higher education. From the analysis of the selected academic works, including doctoral theses and master's dissertations, produced between 2007 and 2018, the research sought to understand how university extension has been conceptualized and implemented in the curricula of undergraduate courses. Based on a systematic bibliographic review and guided by authors such as Freire, Sousa Santos and Oliveira & Ferreira, the research shows a growing production marked by critical approaches, which recognize extension as a formative and political space. The results point to both significant advances and challenges, such as curricular fragmentation, the absence of consistent institutional policies, and the need to broaden the debate in underrepresented areas. It is concluded that the curricularization of extension represents an opportunity to resignify the role of the university, as long as it is based on principles of social justice, dialogue of knowledge and commitment to the transformation of reality.