Version 2.5 of the European Competence Framework for QT published: new Qualification Profiles
A new update of the European Competence Framework for Quantum Technologies has been published!
The framework is an output of the QUCATS WP4 on workforce development. It is intended to provide a common language for QT training, a tool for planning, mapping and comparing training offers or personal qualifications, and a first step towards standardisation of QT education.
The new version 2.5 consists of three main parts:
- The content map provides a structured overview of QT-related content relevant for education. It is structured into eight domains with 42 subdomains, detailed with topics and subtopics (unchanged since version 2.0).
- The new proficiency triangle visualises the six proficiency levels for three proficiency areas.
- The proficiency areas structure the QT-related proficiency into three areas: (I) Quantum concepts, (II) QT hardware & software engineering, and (III) QT applications and strategies. Thus, the areas cluster proficiency into some QT-specific background, the hands-on engineering skills up to aspects like systems engineering and making a product out of a lab setup, and the business and value creation aspects. They are independent of any specific QT.
- For each area, six proficiency levels – A1 Awareness, A2 Literacy, B1 Utilisation, B2 Investigation, C1 Specialisation and C2 Innovation – specify via in-depth level descriptions of the key knowledge and skills relevant to each level. They are complemented by examples, e.g. of relations to (sub)domains from the content map.
- The proficiency triangle shows the coverage of the proficiency levels for the three areas.
- Nine qualification profiles provide examples of the typical coverage of the proficiency levels, enabling the profiles to be easily compared using the proficiency triangle. The profiles themselves contain the coverage of the proficiency levels, a general description, example personas and additional suggestions, e.g. which training or study programmes might be relevant to reach the profile. Qualification pathways through the profiles are also provided.
The update is based on the analysis of more than 30 interviews with industry representatives. This led to a first draft of qualification profiles, a clustering of roles and qualifications discussed in the interviews. This was complemented by further discussions and expert consultations, as well as a mapping of job vacancies to the profiles. Thus the profiles were refined in an iterative way. An additional paper will report on the details of the update process.
Within the QTEdu CSA, efforts to compile a competence framework for QT have already started in 2020. The process towards version 1.0 is documented in the Methodology and Version History, and the initial iterative study with additional results that go beyond the framework is published in Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 19, 010137. Also a beta version of Qualification Profiles has been published within QTEdu. With the new profiles included in the framework document, this beta version is superseded. Last year's update to version 2.0 within QUCATS has been reported in Front. Quantum Sci. Technol., Vol. 2.
Download Competence Framework for QT - Version 2.5 (official EU publication)
