University extension in Argentina: from public policy to institutional initiative (1995-2025)

Abstract

In 2024, the National Interuniversity Council published a declaration entitled the "San Martín Agreement," which proposes guidelines for the Argentine university system toward 2030. In point 7 of the document, rectors of public universities stated that one of the key points to be addressed in the coming years of their administration will be the drive toward the "curricularization of outreach." While the central points of the San Martín Agreement revolve around curricular and organizational reform that provides for the transition to an academic credit system, in this paper we propose to analyze the place that the promotion of university outreach occupies within public policy and within the university institutions themselves.

In the first section, we define our object of study: university outreach, mentioning the difficulties and tensions that arise when naming it. We then describe the regulations and some public policies that have promoted it over the last thirty years. We also refer to the role of the National University Outreach Network within the framework of the CIN. Finally, we argue that outreach projects and activities aimed at promoting them (through various channels, including curriculum development) fall primarily upon the universities themselves.