CONCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF PPGE/UFTM POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS WITH UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Abstract

We observed that the graduate students in the program have diverse backgrounds, forming a multidisciplinary group. This aroused our curiosity: what was their experience with university extension during their undergraduate studies? Would this diversity of areas mean significant differences in their experiences with extension? Would this mean different conceptions about it? Considering that a postgraduate student is a potential university teacher and researcher in training, it is necessary to know and understand their experiences and conceptions with university extension and to encourage discussion about this university dimension in the space-time of postgraduate studies. We aim to gather information about the conceptions and experiences of postgraduate students of the PPGE of UFTM, enrolled in 2024, with university extension during their undergraduate studies and the possible repercussions. The construction of the questionnaire and data analysis was based on the perspective of formative experience in the personal and professional sphere, on the extensionist perspective of Paulo Freire and on article 207 of the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution. The conceptions of the research subjects indicate a certain uniformity in how it is viewed and developed within the university, in a marginalized way despite so many legal and administrative advances, it is something systemic in several courses and public or private universities, indicating that teacher training and culture is a challenge to advance in the realization of the principle of inseparability between teaching, research and extension in universities.