Participation of university actors in the territory

Abstract

The university, created by and for service of society must be a development factor of the country. In that sense, the article analyzes the participation of the university actors in the territory, from the experience of Universidad Politécnica Territorial in Venezuela. It is the product of an investigation based on mixed sources: documentaries and field ones referring to the application of a questionnaire to an intentional sample of 103 graduates from the major of Engineering; and implementation of interviews to nine informants: three university professors-managers, three businessmen and three neighbors. From the quantitative information it was found that 60.7% of the graduates have adequate working conditions, the 49.7% perform socio-economic intervention actions in the territory, and only 46.4% consider that there is a university-territory bonding. The qualitative information corroborates the weak participation of university graduates in the territory; as well as the fragile bond between the university, the productive sector and the community. What merits a university that undertakes actions aiming to the formation of integral professionals that contribute to the territorial development.