Kansas
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
Kansas at China’s rate would graduate 5,839 engineers a year. It graduates 1,728.
Kansas produces 1,728 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 17,586 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 19 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 5,839. Output is growing (+5.2% over three years). Gap Score: 30% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 4,030 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 50% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Kansas is missing 4,110 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 8x the annual output of University of Kansas.
Where Kansas’s engineers are made.
19 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Kansas. The top 8 account for 97% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Kansas | 535 | 12.9% |
| 2 | Kansas State University | 489 | 14.8% |
| 3 | Wichita State University | 359 | 16.2% |
| 4 | Fort Hays State University | 147 | 6.1% |
| 5 | Southwestern College | 54 | 18.1% |
| 6 | Benedictine College | 45 | 9.7% |
| 7 | Pittsburg State University | 21 | 2.0% |
| 8 | Emporia State University | 18 | 2.8% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Kansas's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 1,040 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 330 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 260 |
| Mechanical Engineers | 250 |
| Industrial Engineers | 240 |
| Civil Engineers | 200 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: Kansas labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Kansas offered record incentives for batteries, chips and jets
Kansas wrote the biggest incentive checks in state history to land a $4 billion battery plant and a $1.8 billion chip factory, while Wichita's aerospace core changed hands. The employers are in place, but the state does not yet produce enough engineers and technicians to staff them.
The drain.
Kansas graduates leave steadily after commencement, and a state analysis found Kansas pays the lowest or second-lowest average salaries in engineering and computer science among six peer states.
Sources: Kansas Legislative Research Department; University of Kansas IPSR for the Kansas Board of Regents via Flatland and The Lawrence Times
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in Kansas.
Tie APEX incentives to training
The Panasonic deal alone carries $829M in state incentives, including $5M a year for training. Kansas should condition every future APEX megadeal on funded Digital ROTC service-for-tuition seats at nearby community and technical colleges, so each subsidy also pays to train the technicians and engineers who will staff the plant.
Renew UEIA with retention conditions
The University Engineering Initiative Act puts $10.5M a year into K-State, KU and Wichita State and hit its 1,365-graduate target, but its renewal only aspires to keep grads in state. Convert part of that money into service-for-tuition awards that trade debt relief for committed years at Kansas employers, aimed at the drop from 69% retention at graduation to 54% a decade out.
Fund technician tracks first
Panasonic is holding job fairs for skilled machine technicians while KLRD reports community college enrollment fell 19.2% from 2017 to 2022 even as technical colleges grew 14.1%. A service-for-tuition compact at Kansas two-year colleges, tied to guaranteed interviews at De Soto and Wichita aerospace plants, would build on that technical-college growth.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In Kansas, 14% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.