Starting in the 2022-2023 academic year, the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) will have a new title in its academic offer. This is the 'Master in Quantum Technologies', carried out in academic alliance with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), whose registration period opens this 2nd November.
The master degree is directed and coordinated by María José Calderón (ICMM-CSIC), Diego Frustaglia (University of Seville), and David Zueco (INMA, CSIC-UNIZAR). It has the financial support of the CSIC Platform on Quantum Technologies, the Spanish Network of Quantum Technologies, and the Quantum Spain project. From de Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales there are some others teachers: Ramón Aguado, Gloria Platero, Sigmund Kohler, and Tobias Stauber.
The postgraduate course, which is under the category of an own degree, consists of a course of 60 ECTS credits completed from January to September 2023 and is aimed at graduates of technical and scientific careers and professionals from technology, communication, and information technology companies.
Most relevant competencies for all areas of quantum technologies
The master offers a complete education in the field of quantum technologies, at the development and advanced user level. This program is designed with a top-down model, in which the most relevant skills are extracted for all areas of quantum technologies, and research and teaching professionals with the required adequacy are sought to provide this training throughout Spanish universities and research centers. The result of this selection is a team of 50 research professors with a solid international track record in the field of quantum technologies.
The orientation of the master's degree is twofold: research and professional (unregulated). On the one hand, it is a response to the training needs of the multiple and geographically dispersed research teams, public and private, at the national level. Its inclusive nature is reflected in the fact that it is an inter-university project that combines 10 CSIC centers and 9 universities. On the other hand, through a top-down design and an adequate selection of skills, exhaustive training is provided that will allow students to develop independent innovation and development projects within quantum technology companies and companies that are introduced in the field from other areas. Currently, there is a high demand for professionals with this training, while this profile is scarce.
Quantum nature devices
Quantum technologies are those that are built with devices of a quantum nature, taking advantage of phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to obtain advantages in sensing, metrology, communication, encryption, simulation, and computing tasks, among others. The field of quantum technologies is a priority research area in Europe, the US, China, Canada, Australia, and Japan, among other developed regions.
In Europe, this area was articulated around the Quantum Technologies Flagship, initiated by the European Commission in 2019, and which is now replaced by Horizon Europe's Cluster 4 in collaboration with similar initiatives in Digital Europe, ESA, EIC, and other departments of research and innovation. In Spain, quantum technologies are also included in the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation 2021-2027, as well as in different strategic actions charged to recovery funds and ERDF funds from the Autonomous Communities.
Precisely, this year 2022, the physicists Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger have been the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work in quantum information.
This official recognition takes place because quantum technologies have jumped from the academic world to the business environment, with a growing economic impact. This impact materializes through an exponentially growing number of startups, which add to or complement the initiatives organized by consolidated companies, such as Airbus, Telefónica, Vodafone, and Thales Athenea, among others.
-- UIMP Communication --
