Studies of regional, national and international needs of the systems engineering program of the American University Corporation

Resumen

This study analyzes the regional, national, and international relevance of the Systems Engineering program at Corporación Universitaria Americana in the context of rapid digital transformation and increasing demand for advanced technological competencies. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining documentary analysis, secondary data review, international benchmarking, and curricular gap analysis to assess alignment between the current curriculum and requirements from public policies, the productive sector, technological trends, and international frameworks for computing education. The findings indicate heterogeneous curricular relevance across the three levels of analysis. The program demonstrates strengths in software development, computational thinking, project-based learning, and interdisciplinary problem-solving. However, gaps remain in the systematic, transversal integration of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, advanced data analytics, software architecture, and intelligent systems. The analysis also identifies limited structural articulation with regional innovation ecosystems and industry, as well as opportunities to strengthen curricular flexibility and specialization pathways in response to evolving labor market demands. These findings suggest that the main challenge is not the absence of emerging technologies in the curriculum, but their predominantly incremental and insufficiently integrated incorporation. Accordingly, the study proposes a competency-based curricular redesign focused on the transversal integration of emerging technologies, continuous curriculum updating, stronger university–industry collaboration, interdisciplinary learning, and flexible specialization pathways. This framework can strengthen graduate employability, institutional competitiveness, and the continuing relevance of Systems Engineering education in a rapidly changing digital environment.