An Approach to Community Engagement Activities in Chilean Professional Institutes: Insights from a Case Study Experience

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the type of activities designed and implemented by professional institutes in Chile, with a particular focus on the impact of the new transversal and bidirectional third mission approach on the extension of community engagement and its potential curricular integration.  To this end, a case study was conducted on a private professional institute with a national presence, employing a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative analysis of the activities carried out in 2023 with qualitative insights from interviews with a sample of key stakeholders involved in community engagement across eight branches of the institution. The findings indicate that while extension activities continue to play a vital role, this is potentially at the cost of diminished quality, with a more  instrumental focus geared towards achieving public engagement management metrics. Furthermore,there is an increasing emphasis on activities directly aligned with curricular frameworks, driven by institutional policies that promote their integration, often  to the detriment of broader social and community-oriented extension and development initiatives.