In this paper, five general trends considered of the greatest impact in the global higher education and national level are addressed. Those ones such as the trend on higher education coverage and universalization, orientation to raise and standardize the quality of higher education, the relationship between education and the new paradigms of the knowledge society, the need to find a more relevant education, and the profound changes that occur in the pedagogical and curricular dimension. Within these five analysis variables substantial transformations are observed requiring institutional changes allowing the possibilities and opportunities that are being consolidated. This study is part of the collective effort of the Universidad Catolica de Pereira to identify both the regional development trends and the disciplines to contribute the reflection on the Institutional Development Plan.