Trends for the future of education programs for professional development

Scientific and technological developments bring new requirements for university education and, particularly, the training of education professionals. There is a regular need to update curricula to integrate market trends and educational approaches. It is necessary to know future trends in education and teaching programs. Our research in a higher education institution in Ecuador focused on providing perspectives on the future of educational programs by analyzing trends in educational programs’ designs, students and professors’ needs for innovative education. We used the descriptive/exploratory case study method, employing quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, focus groups and benchmarking as instruments. The surveys were applied to 337 current students, 384 potential students and 313 graduates of Educational Sciences. We conducted interviews with 20 experts from Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Ecuador. We held focus groups with 32 education professionals, including rectors, principals, educational specialists and primary, secondary and university teachers. Benchmarking was used in our analysis of ten universities. The results focused on five elements that were units of analysis (1) characteristics of education programs, (2) student requirements, (3) required educational modalities, (4) trends in education and (5) future of education programs. The data and results may be of interest to decision-makers, academicians, researchers, students and citizens interested in professional education and other disciplinary areas.