ABSTRACT
This article uses a historical analysis to focus on the trilogy of teaching, research and extension. Its purpose is to situate the trilogy’s origin as an institutional practice in the particular context of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) and contrast it with its constructed meaning in the national context, as a principle that currently guides Brazilian universities’ quality standards. The historical approach adopted in this double analytical bias has made it possible to identify the distinction between the functionality of the trilogy, which is characterized by UFV’s original institutional project inspired by land grant colleges, and the social and political significance that the trilogy has for Brazilian universities, starting from its affirmation as a constitutional principle in 1988.
KEYWORDS:
teaching-research-extension; Universidade Federal de Viçosa; history of Brazilian universities