Implementation of Curricular Innovations in Undergraduate Engineering Programs: Scope and Challenges

In 2022, as part of a program funded by the Chilean Corporation for Production Promotion (CORFO), named Engineering 2030, the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences at the University of La Frontera embarked on the curricular implementation process for 12 innovative civil engineering programs. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to identify the scope and challenges encountered during the first year of implementation, particularly considering the proposed curriculum changes and the pandemic conditions under which the project's closure and launch were situated. The research was conducted within the framework proposed by Magana for engineering education research [1], and the categories for implementing curricular changes in engineering as outlined by Henderson et al. [2], which enabled the description of the executed process and the collection and analysis of data derived from it. The study highlights the achievements of a progressive implementation that has been able to respond to changing contexts and the characteristics of students who enrolled in these study programs. Despite numerous challenges, the emphasis lies on the establishment of continuous improvement actions within the formative process, aiming to make the curriculum dynamic, adaptable, and responsive to the complexities of the current era.