Problems-Based Implementation of Social integration and Regionalization in Universities

Thinking at human, social and economic development of regions, universities need work together with communities, organizations, and persons, in their influence zone. In this sense, the Minerva University Model (MUM) considers, in an innovative way, explicitly, social integration and regionalization as essential university axes. Each academic institution has particular social, regional, and academic situations, which demand an appropriated elaboration of objectives, strategies, and scope of the solutions. The introduction of contributions to implement social integration and regionalization in universities is the central focus of this work. Aiming at this central aspect, our research looks for an innovative application of the MUM or any other university model. For this purpose, the present work considers the analysis of interrelationships between interested agents, including students, as central agent of the academic activity, in Engineering Faculties. This analysis is guided by the context concept, which determines the space where problems and solutions are recognized. In this direction, the present work proposes a way for the identification of own problems, the adoption and validation of realistic objectives and the establishment of concrete processes for accomplishment these objectives. Each validated objective requires the formulation of the corresponding processes, in order to attain an effective and manageable implementation. That means to keep the coherence between described problems and enunciated objectives, and ensure a systematic and controllable implementation of Social Integration and Regionalization in each particular academic institution.