Introduction:

since their origin, universities have been institutions destined to carry out essential functions within the social context. In the field of their reciprocal interrelations, the university and society, as structural actors, they have the need to build links and projects that make their intentions common.

Objective:

to analyze the importance of the link between the Cuban medical university and its social environment.

Methods:

a bibliographic search was carried out with the use of descriptor terms related to the topic, 35 articles published in the last 20 years in numerous electronic journals were consulted. The search was carried out in the SciELO and Google Scholar databases, 17 articles were cited, which in the opinion of the authors have an updated approach on the subject.

Development:

Cuba has developed a model of a modern, humanistic university, integrated into society and committed to the construction of a sovereign nation. The establishment of a permanent educational policy that involves the entire university faculty, its students and graduates must emerge from this relationship. This dynamic results from the interaction of the health work processes, in the different scenes of the community and in the services.

Conclusions:

the close relationship of medical universities with the social environment is of utmost importance, both for society and for the university community. This relationship that develops in a bidirectional sense generates important advances and achievements, both for the producers of knowledge and for the users.

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