Every new technology needs people who can use it well. For quantum computing that is a particular challenge, because the field sits between physics, mathematics, computer science and engineering, and most education still sits firmly in one of them.
Physics courses explain qubits beautifully but rarely teach how to write, test and debug a program. Software courses teach programming but often treat quantum circuits as a black box. The people organisations will need can do both: reason about superposition and noise, and build software that is correct, tested and honest about its limits.
What good quantum education looks like
- Hands-on from the first lesson: learners should run small programs and see real distributions, not just read about them.
- Honest about noise: real devices make mistakes, and learners should meet those mistakes early and learn to measure them.
- Testing as a habit: a quantum program should come with checks that say what a correct run looks like, just as classical software does.
- Clear about limits: knowing which problems quantum computers are not expected to help with is as valuable as knowing which they are.
- Accessible: the mathematics matters, but it can be introduced step by step, alongside programs that make it concrete.
Lucivant Quantum Academy
After more than 20 years in university teaching and information technology, I have seen how much difference it makes when abstract ideas are connected to something learners can try for themselves. That is the approach behind Lucivant Quantum Academy, which I lead. It is being developed to offer interactive lessons in quantum computing for people new to the field, and it is in development.
Australia’s National Quantum Strategy names a skilled quantum workforce as one of its themes. Universities, industry and companies like ours each have a part to play, and the best results will come from working together.