Perceptions and Challenges of University Extension in Relation to Public Communication of Science. A Case Study at UNPA UARG

Abstract

The relationship between Extension and Public Communication of Science (PCS) in National Universities in Argentina is a topic that in recent years has occupied a very important place in debates about the construction of knowledge, the perception of sciences in the community, and the relationship that exists between the two. In 2021, a team of teachers and students from the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Rio Gallegos (UNPA UARG) formulated the extension project called "Communicating with Science" within the framework of the Extension Program in Communication Research and Production. Different actions and surveys were carried out in these projects, which offered a first diagnosis of the situation.

This article aims to address the tensions that exist between Public Communication of Science, university extension, and their perception in the territory of Rio Gallegos during 2022. This analysis will be based on interviews with directors of the Extension and Research Institutes of UNPA UARG in 2021, the extension actions developed by them, and the data collected in the survey conducted in the city of Rio Gallegos in 2022. Then, they are analyzed within the institutional structure of the aforementioned Institutes.