Cobertura territorial y distribución urbano-rural de beneficiarios en un proyecto universitario de vinculación con la sociedad en Ecuador

This study analyzed the territorial coverage and urban-rural distribution of beneficiaries of the project “Educating to Transform: Integrative Knowledge for an Equitable, Inclusive, and Intercultural Society” from the perspectives of territorial relevance and university social responsibility. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional secondary analysis was conducted on the full set of 1,344 administrative records. Province, region, and sector variables were cleaned and standardized without imputing missing or ambiguous values. Frequencies, percentages, cumulative proportions, and the concentration ratio for the five provinces with the highest frequencies (CR5) were calculated. Beneficiaries were recorded in all 24 Ecuadorian provinces, along with seven records abroad. The Coast accounted for 56.18% of records, the Highlands for 37.35%, the Amazon region for 5.80%, and the Insular region for 0.15%. Guayas, Pichincha, Manabí, Los Ríos, and El Oro accounted for 60.79% of the total (CR5). Urban beneficiaries represented 77.53% and rural beneficiaries 19.87%; among the 1,309 records with an unambiguous classification, the rural share was 20.40%. The observed pattern combines nationwide coverage with provincial concentration and a rural share below the 2022 census benchmark. Administrative records therefore provide a basis for distinguishing geographic reach from distributive balance and for supporting targeting and monitoring, without inferring project effects or impact.