Train the Trainer: Inside MAHE’s Hardware-First Bet on Quantum

Through its partnership with QuantrolOx, Manipal Academy of Higher Education is preparing educators like Dr. Chandrakantha Bekal to run a live quantum facility.

Insider Brief

• India’s quantum ambitions are moving from theory and software toward physical systems, and the limiting factor is people who can operate the hardware. As domestic startups and projects like the upcoming IBM Quantum System Two in Amaravati bring real machines online, the country needs an on-the-ground workforce that its software-heavy education system hasn’t produced.
• Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), through an MoA with QuantrolOx, has set up Q-Hub@MAHE on the open-architecture VIDYAQAR platform, which lets the university choose its own QPUs, electronics and dilution refrigerators. It paired the facility with the Quantum EDGE Academy, a simulator-style training environment.
• With its dilution refrigerator installed and the facility ready for live experiments, MAHE is now focused on running the system reliably and building local troubleshooting skills. Over a 3-to-5-year horizon, the university aims to establish a fully operational quantum hub and a home-grown, hardware-literate workforce, starting with first- and second-year undergraduates.