The work in question set out to analyze how the Forum of Pro-Rectors of Extension of Brazilian Higher Education Institutions (FOPROEX) was set up and developed over its 25-year history (1987-2012)? Since its creation, FORPROEX has been the main stage for discussions on promoting and demanding the creation of specific guidelines and actions for University Extension as part of public policies for higher education in the country. In this way, approaching the knowledge and actions of the Forum's first 25 years of history was based on the fundamental premise of tackling important issues such as the process of institutionalization (establishing actions both from an administrative point of view and in terms of academic practice), territorialization (forms of organization and reorganization in terms of social relations with space), funding (decentralization and allocation of resources, as well as a special fund at the Ministry of Education) and innovation (building different positions and actions within the academic and social spheres). To this end, an analysis was carried out of the documents published by FORPROEX, such as the final documents of the national meetings and the University Extension guidelines.