Higher Education in the Quad Cities

Building the talent pipeline

QC, That’s Where our family of communities has outstanding higher education institutions that support employers with existing and future employees.

It’s where those looking to advance their education with a certificate, credential, a two-year, four-year or graduate degree have a broad range of educational options to choose from. With 50 colleges and universities with 115,000 students within a 90-mile radius of the Quad Cities, you can choose the educational experience that’s right for you. More than 28,000 students received over 32,000 post-secondary awards, including 25,801 degrees and 6,270 certificates in the 2021-22 academic year. If you’re looking for a research-based institution, there are eight land-grant institutions within a 300-mile radius of the Quad Cities.

Quad Cities Graduate Inventory Dashboard

This dashboard contains information on the number of degrees and certificates earned by students in post-secondary institutions within a 90-mile radius of the Quad Cities during the 2021-2022 academic year.

How to use the Quad Cities Graduate Inventory:

Select an ‘institution’ from the dropdown menu to display the total number of degrees in each category
Select the ‘Major or industry’ (e.g. bachelor) to see a detailed list of that institution's graduates by program
Select an ‘Occupational Group’ to see which degrees are leading occupations in those industry groups

Data source: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The matching of degree programs by 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) to occupations by the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) follows the CIP-SOC Crosswalk developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics. Occupations leading to focus industries have been identified by Grow Quad Cities.

The QC’s educational attainment is competitive with communities across the nation:

42% have completed education or training beyond high school
28% of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher (2022 American Community Survey)

Signature educational programs in the Quad Cities

Local employers give strong accolades to the Supply Chain Management program at Western Illinois University – Quad Cities as it integrates corporate best practices and hands-on experience to build relevant industry skills.
The Mechanical, Civil, Electrical and General Engineering programs at Western Illinois University – Quad Cities Campus were built with specific insight from Quad Cities’ manufacturers and engineering firms.
Due to its strong reputation, graduates of the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges’ Truck Driving program are typically offered positions even before completing the program.
Blackhawk College’s IGNITE program provides student exposure to a variety of industries and technologies through 47 interactive computer lessons in the college’s newly installed Amatrol Equipment lab. They gain hands-on skills and apply those new skills to 12 mini-projects. Working through each station in the lab, they learn about topics such as basic robot operation, basic electrical concepts and introduction to solid modeling.

Building the talent pipeline

Quad Cities Graduate Inventory Dashboard

The QC’s educational attainment is competitive with communities across the nation:

Post-secondary educational institutions, located in the metro Quad Cities

Signature educational programs in the Quad Cities