Linkage-research integration in the Medicine degree at the Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes

Abstract

Introduction: the integration of scientific research and linkage is key for the contribution of universities to the solution of society's problems through the transfer of knowledge and innovation. Objective: characterize the integration process between linkage and research in the UNIANDES Medicine degree. Method: a predominantly qualitative and descriptive research was carried out with the use of documentary analysis and interviews. Governing documents, guidelines, and policies applied in the Medicine career were reviewed. Interviews were carried out with the coordinators in the program to search for volume of information about these two activities and the specific projections of mainstreaming. Results: a weakness was noted in terms of the management of the link with society, absence of a broader vision of comprehensive management where not only linkage with teaching is intertwined in pre-professional practices but also in integrative projects and the existence of will of institutional directors to create a true university-society link through research. Conclusions: a broader vision of the integration between the three key university processes is missing, only the relationship between teaching and connection is evident from pre-professional practices, leaving out the basis and genesis that knowledge-integrating projects should be. In order to perfect this integration, social innovation projects must be proposed where linkage and research come together, guaranteeing the publication of the results of social innovation projects in the internal journals of UNIANDES and in others with regional or global impact.