Software Engineering Needs in the North of Sinaloa Employing the Cluster Analysis

In the design or restructuring of a syllabus, especially in higher education, a series of factors must be considered to meet the expectations of actors involved: educational institution, students and employers. However, it is imperative to know the needs of the region regarding the area of knowledge. This article presents an analysis of the needs of Software Engineering (SE) in the northern area of the state of Sinaloa. The aim of the research is to update the syllabus of the SE career of the Facultad de Ingeniería Mochis (Sinaloa) from the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa (UAS). This research applied the cluster analysis with the agglomerative hierarchical classification method to a data set. The data set was obtained through a survey applied to employers in the region to determine SE common needs. The investigation determined that the learning autonomy (generic competencies) and the approach to analysis and design of the SE (specific competencies) represent the most important aspects for the area.