Disparities in access to US quantum information education

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the unequal distribution of quantum information science education in the US, revealing significant disparities along institutional, geographic, and socioeconomic lines, and offers policy recommendations to improve access.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive regression analysis of QIS coursework distribution across US institutions, highlighting disparities and proposing targeted policy interventions.

Findings

Significant disparities in QIS education access across institution types.

Low-income and rural students are underrepresented in QIS programs.

Emerging QIS degree programs show similar inequities.

Abstract

Driven in large part by the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018, quantum information science (QIS) coursework and degree programs are rapidly spreading across US institutions. Yet prior work suggests that access to quantum workforce education is unequally distributed, disproportionately benefiting students at private research-focused institutions whose student bodies are unrepresentative of US higher education as a whole. We use regression analysis to analyze the distribution of QIS coursework across 456 institutions of higher learning as of fall 2022, identifying statistically significant disparities across institutions in particular along the axes of institution classification, funding, and geographic distribution suggesting today's QIS education programs are largely failing to reach low-income and rural students. We also conduct a brief analysis of the distribution of emerging dedicated QIS degree programs, discovering much the same trends. We conclude with a discussion of implications for educators, policymakers, and education researchers including specific policy recommendations to direct investments in QIS education to schools serving low-income and rural students, leverage existing grassroots diversity and inclusion initiatives that have arisen within the quantum community, and update and modernize procedures for collecting QIS educational data to better track these trends.