According to the National Curriculum Guidelines for Engineering Courses of the Ministry of Education (approved in 2001), the university academic curriculum must go beyond conventional classroom activities. In this way, complementary activities are an obligatory curricular component that provide comprehensive social, cultural and professional training to future engineers.

Its focus is to complement the student's education, enriching their theoretical-practical knowledge by carrying out activities outside the programs of the course curriculum, which may be related to the three dimensions of academic teaching: research, teaching and extension.

Therefore, these activities will broaden the horizons of both professional and personal formation of the student, stimulating his/hers initiative through the practice of student protagonism, respecting his/hers individuality, making possible the choice of activities of his/hers greater interest, thus stimulating the development of his/hers competences.

Currently, Engineering School courses’ offer Integrated Projects, which are interdisciplinary activities that occur during the semester, outside class hours, being also a way to develop the practice of the course chosen, besides counting as complementary activities to the participating students.