The required skills in the Software Engineering graduate: Analysis and perspectives of curriculum redesign in the career. University of the army forces ESPE Ecuador

The growing needs of more productive and efficient computer programs require professionals able to develop and to manage high-quality software in a systematic, controlled and appropriate way. Over 35 years ago, the term Software Engineering was coined to define the use of methods for the development, operation and maintenance of the software. Since then the expression has been used in the industry, organizations and academia. Several universities around the world have created the Software Engineering degree or courses. In Latin America there are few universities that offer this knowledge area, at least with the name of Software Engineering. Ecuador has been a pioneer in the creation of this profession, when in 2008 the Army Force University ESPE implements the degree, which remains the unique in the country. After six years of its implementation, the Council of Higher Education of Ecuador (CES) established that all the Ecuadorian Universities must redesign offered degree or could create new ones. Taking the advantages of this opportunity, the Software Engineering degree at ESPE was redesigned. In this paper, we present the redesign process followed and the results obtained. Additionally, we describe the experience gained through these six years, considering the scientific community of the ESPE — professors, students and graduated — and generating through the review of documents and surveys the results of the research. The results of the paper represent a contribution for national and international universities which wish to change the curriculum of theirs degrees according to the new requirements and current labor market.