The purpose of this research was to get to know the true curriculum of the Programa Supérate of Universidad del Noroeste (a special undergraduate program which was designed based on the work competence standard model and aimed at adults already in the workforce) which was done to help back up the curricular improvement of an educational alternative that was the only one of its kind in Sonora (Mexico). The methodology of Estévez and Fimbres (1998) was used for the formal curriculum analysis and its comparison with the real curriculum based on the professors’ and students’ perception. The curriculum’s internal and external sources were taken into consideration in order to define the variables, instruments and the interpretation of results. The results: professors showed they were better informed than the students when it comes to discipline topics. However, the professors lacked adequate didactic strategies to make an impact on the students’ learning process. The work competence standard model is not well known by teachers or students. Also, the diagnostic exam used to detect the level of competence when a student first enrolls was not applied.

Key words: Curriculum development, curriculum evaluation, competence based education.