SRMIST & QNu Academy: Quantum Communication Lab, Curriculum, and Certified Faculty

CHALLENGE

To set up a complete Quantum Communication Lab and programme at SRMIST

The National Quantum Mission selection required SRMIST to establish a laboratory, a curriculum aligned with its degree programmes, and a body of qualified faculty. The third requirement was the hardest, because faculty who could teach quantum communication at professional standard did not yet exist at the required scale.

Key Challenges

• There is no formal Quantum education courses that students can opt for as part of their Undergraduate and Postgraduate Engineering studies.
• India has no pool of trained quantum communication faculty for the university to hire.
• Every downstream commitment depended on certified educators, including the planned student elective and the statewide mentoring mandate.

SOLUTION

A trained faculty cohort and a comprehensive, fully functional Quantum Communication Lab delivered as one programme

The MoU established a Quantum Communication Hub in Tamil Nadu. It covers five workstreams:

1. A Centre for Quantum Communications Research houses a dedicated Quantum Communication Lab.
2. Faculty earn certification through the QNu Academy.
3. University is empowered to take B.Tech students for Minor in Quantum Communication through the curriculum.
4. The institution is capable of pursuing research under the National Quantum Mission.
5. University is equipped to launch faculty training cohorts for regional universities/colleges.

QNu Academy: Faculty Certification and the Quantum Communications Lab

Seventeen faculty members from five departments completed the programme, which runs from Quantum Communication to Post-Quantum Cryptography.

QNu Academy mapped the curriculum and delivered the sessions on campus as working workshops along with virtual sessions, with the faculty operating the lab's equipment directly and learning from experimentation.

The laboratory is built around Armos, QNu's quantum key distribution system, and Tropos, its quantum random number generator. The same platforms run in India's defence and banking networks, and the student curriculum was written for these physical systems.

SRMIST: Infrastructure, Faculty Time and the Teaching Mandate

SRMIST provided the space and infrastructure at the Department of Computing Technologies, School of Computing, and committed its faculty to the programme. The partnership also extends into joint research under the National Quantum Mission, with co-authored publications in scope. This marked a major milestone for the Mission.

DEPLOYMENT AND VALIDATION

How it was delivered

• Program Kick off: The official program kick off happened in January 2026. Introduction to Quantum Communication – Faculty Development Program was delivered in 90 days, and the Capstone Project was completed in 4 weeks.
• Faculty certification: SRMIST faculty completed structured training and certification during the 2025-26 academic year. Faculty Certification Ceremony was held in July 2026.
• Lab commissioning: QNu Labs built the laboratory on Armos, its state-of-the-art QKD platform. Fully functional Quantum lab was set up in 60 days.
• Inauguration and certification ceremony: SRMIST opened the lab in July 2026, with the Vice Chancellor, the Mission Director of the National Quantum Mission, QNu Labs' CEO, and the heads of the national quantum hubs at IIT Madras Research Park and IISc Bengaluru in attendance. The faculty cohort received their certificates at the event.

OUTCOME

Six outcomes from the programme

• A working lab on campus: Physical QKD hardware is running on campus, and students work directly on it.
• India's first certified faculty cohort: Seventeen faculty across five departments earned certification to teach professional quantum communication courses.
• A defensible teaching standard: Certification gives the university a standard it can scale across departments and affiliated colleges.
• A self-reliant and fully equipped team: SRMIST owns the lab, employs the certified faculty, and runs the teaching programme without QNu.
• A pathway to institutional scale: Equipped to launch student programs with a significant intake, faculty enabled to run research programs and bid for Research grants.
• Positioning of SRMIST as a Quantum knowledge hub in the region: Equipped to launch faculty training cohorts for regional universities/colleges.

WHY QNU ACADEMY

Training built on real, deployed technology, delivered as a single programme

QNu Academy is the training division of QNu Labs, a global leader in hybrid quantum security backed by the National Quantum Mission. QNu systems run in the Defence, Telecom, BFSI, Power, Space and Government sectors, and its network technology has been proven in a 1,000 km quantum-safe demonstration. The Academy delivers lab setup, curriculum development, faculty and student training, assessment and certification as one programme.