Abstract:

Quantum technology is an emerging technology with disruptive potential. As soon as the technology achieves its breakthrough, trained personnel will be needed to maintain Germany's digital sovereignty. The workforce can be recruited from two target groups: individuals with a vocational qualification who receive further training to gain the necessary skills for the quantum future, and young talents without a vocational qualification to date. The interest of the latter should be stimulated so that they aspire to study in this field. As part of the project All about QUARKS, a mentoring program was developed in which these two target groups, working employees and school students (both mentees), are coming together and learn from scientists from the field of quantum technology (mentors).

Data is collected through questionnaires before, during and after the mentoring program to guarantee scientific monitoring and evaluation. The pre-measurement also aims to assess the mentees' prior knowledge to ensure that the level of knowledge transfer is appropriate. As the mentoring program is ongoing, only the pre-measurement results are currently available and are presented in the results section of this paper. Results show that the mentee's interest in quantum physics is high, prior knowledge in the self assessment comparatively low. The questionnaire assessing prior knowledge showed that some basic quantum principles are known as well as common knowledge related to the field of computing and communication. However, not all contexts and assessments given by the participants were clear or correct. This foundation is a good starting point for strengthening the participants' knowledge and interest within the framework of the program. This paper describes the concept of the mentoring programme, its evaluation methodology, and the findings from the pre-measurement.

Keywords:

Quantum technology, Higher education, Mentoring program, Interest, Prior knowledge.