FASF Software Engineering Earns Top MEC Rating

The Ministry of Education (MEC) awarded the maximum score of 5 to the Software Engineering course at Faculdade Sagrada Família (FASF). This concept represents the highest level in the scale used to classify Brazilian higher education courses. The result positions the Ponta Grossa institution as a reference for technology professional formation in the Campos Gerais region.

The achievement occurs in a context of significant market demand. Brazil faces an estimated deficit of hundreds of thousands of technology professionals, while companies across all sectors compete for talent capable of developing, implementing, and maintaining digital systems. This combination of high demand with scarcity of qualified professionals has created a scenario where formation quality becomes a decisive differential.

The MEC evaluation methodology applies objective criteria organized in three main dimensions. For technology courses like Software Engineering, specific aspects receive special weight:

• Didactic-pedagogical organization: Verifies if the curriculum follows market transformations
• Faculty body: Evaluated by academic title and practical experience
• Infrastructure: Includes laboratories, equipment, software, and technological resources

FASF achieved maximum scores in all three dimensions. The concept 5 represents official certification that the course meets the highest standards required by the Brazilian higher education evaluation system. In a field where technological change speed makes constant curriculum updating a challenge, this recognition validates the institution's commitment to excellence.

The Software Engineering curriculum at FASF balances contemporary technologies with robust theoretical foundations. This combination prepares professionals for today's market while ensuring adaptability for future transformations.

Emerging Technologies Integration

The program includes specific disciplines in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, areas that have evolved from specialized niches to increasingly demanded competencies across all economic sectors. Professionals capable of developing, training, and implementing AI models find opportunities in companies of all sizes.

Cloud Computing is integrated into the curriculum, addressing the migration of systems to platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud that transformed how software is developed, deployed, and maintained. Engineers who master cloud-native architectures hold significant competitive advantage.

The course also covers DevOps and continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) practices, methodologies that have become standard in mature technology companies. The ability to automate development pipelines, ensure quality through automated testing, and perform frequent secure deployments is now a basic requirement in high-performance teams.

Data Engineering completes the set of disciplines focused on contemporary technologies. With exponentially growing data volumes, professionals capable of designing scalable and efficient data architectures are highly sought after.

Solid Theoretical Base

If technological updating is important, fundamentals remain essential. The program balances contemporary technology disciplines with a solid theoretical foundation:

• Programming logic, data structures, and algorithms form the foundation upon which everything else is built
• Software architecture teaches structured system thinking, component organization, and interface definition
• Requirements engineering addresses one of the most critical and often neglected stages of software development
• Quality and software testing prepare students to ensure developed systems function as expected

Languages and frameworks change; fundamental computing principles remain. Professionals with solid foundations adapt to new technologies more easily than those who learned only specific tools.

The Software Engineering program at FASF provides infrastructure designed to offer students a development environment similar to technology companies.

Laboratory Infrastructure

The computer laboratories feature high-performance computers capable of running integrated development environments, virtual machines, containers, and data processing tools without crashes or hardware limitations. Students have access to professional software, IDEs, versioning tools, cloud computing platforms, test environments, and development frameworks.

The infrastructure includes environments for collaborative projects configured for teamwork, version control, and agile methodologies. Software engineering is naturally a collaborative activity, and developing this competence from formation is fundamental.

Faculty Profile

The faculty body brings together masters and doctors who combine academic production with practical experience in software development, system architecture, and technology project management. When professors explain design patterns, agile methodologies, or microservices architectures, they share knowledge built in real projects with real deadlines, clients, and problems.

Faculty members understand the challenges students will face when entering the market. They know which competencies are most valued, which mistakes are most common among beginner professionals, and which practices separate median developers from high-level engineers.

This connection with the market also reflects in constant content updating. Professors who follow technological trends bring discussions about tools, practices, and approaches gaining relevance to the classroom, often before they reach traditional textbooks.

The Software Engineering program at FASF prepares students for a technology market with significant opportunities and constant transformation.

Market Demand

Estimates from the Brazilian Association of Information and Communication Technology Companies (Brasscom) point to a technology professional deficit in Brazil that may reach hundreds of thousands of unfilled positions in coming years. Demand grows faster than the educational system's formation capacity.

This gap between supply and demand has direct consequences on salaries. Technology professionals are among the best remunerated in the Brazilian market. Software engineers at the beginning of their careers often reach salary levels that professionals in other areas only achieve after years of experience.

Work Modalities

The possibility of remote work expands opportunities even further. Software engineers can work for companies anywhere in the world without leaving home. Brazilian professionals working remotely for foreign companies—often with remuneration in dollars or euros—have become a common reality.

Geography is no longer a limiting factor. It's possible to live in Ponta Grossa and work for a Silicon Valley startup, a London fintech, or a São Paulo e-commerce company.

Professional Trajectories

The formation opens doors to diverse career paths:

• Full Stack Development: Working on both frontend and backend
• Mobile Engineering: Developing applications for smartphones
• Data Engineering: Designing infrastructures for large data volumes
• AI and Machine Learning Engineering: Developing artificial intelligence models
• DevOps and SRE: Ensuring stable, scalable, and secure systems
• Software Architecture: Defining structures for complex systems
• Technical Leadership: Tech leads, engineering managers, CTOs

Program Structure

The four-year course operates at night, accommodating students who work during the day. The curriculum is organized to build competencies progressively: initial semesters establish foundations in logic, programming, mathematics, and data structures; intermediate periods advance to specialized software engineering disciplines; final semesters include integrative projects simulating real market situations.

The institution maintains a network of relationships with companies in the Campos Gerais region, offering internship fields and professional insertion channels. The FASF Convivence space allows parents to leave their children during night classes, expanding access possibilities.