University Extension in Tourism: actions performed by public education institutions in Brazil

Abstract

This work consists of an exploratory and descriptive research about university extension in Tourism, specifically in public education institutions in Brazil. It aims at demonstrating how Brazilian public higher education institutions perform extension actions in the area of Tourism, based on data from SIGPRoj, a system developed by the Brazilian Ministry of Education to manage teaching, research and extension actions of academic institutions. To achieve this proposition, this study describes 114 actions, developed from 2006 to 2011, according to SIGProj. It also discusses the action coordinators’ conception of university extension. The results show that institutions of many states of the country perform extensionist activities in a great variety of thematic areas and modalities, notably projects, events and courses. It also reveals that coordinators understand these actions as a way to fulfill universities’ commitment to provide social returns, to promote improvements in communities’ quality of life and to link theory and practice.