Presenting the 2024 Coursera Global Skills Report

By Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO

I’m delighted to present Coursera’s sixth annual Global Skills Report, a trusted resource for leaders and institutions worldwide to understand the rapidly transforming skills landscape. The report draws on data and insights from our global learning community—including over 148 million learners and 7,000 institutional customers—and content from 325 of the world’s leading university and industry partners. To provide a holistic view, the report now combines our internal proficiency data with leading economic indices, including global innovation, labor force participation, human capital, and GDP per capita.  

The report captures several significant trends driven by GenAI, digital transformation, and automation. In 2023, a learner signed up for a GenAI course on Coursera every minute. By 2024, this rate had quadrupled. A 1,060% year-over-year increase in global GenAI course enrollments highlights how learners are actively preparing for AI’s impact on their careers.

Key findings:

• European learners on the Coursera platform record the highest skills proficiency levels. 19 of the top 25 countries globally are from the region, with Switzerland emerging as a global skills leader.
  • In contrast, major Anglophone nations like New Zealand (40th), the United Kingdom (45th), Australia (55th), Canada (59th), and the United States (69th) rank lower.
  • Japanese learners are the most proficient in Asia-Pacific, with Japan having risen from 5th to 2nd in the global ranking.  It is the only APAC nation to feature among the top ten. Singapore has risen from 16th to 12th, while India ranks 87th
  • Latin America’s highest-ranked nation is Brazil (19th), with Chile (20th) also among the top 20. Latin America and the Caribbean show a strong commitment to AI readiness, with GenAI course enrollment increasing 882% year-over-year.
  • The Middle East and North Africa are gearing up for digital transformation and trade leadership, driven by government investments in technology infrastructure and logistics. The United Arab Emirates leads the region (34th globally) 
• AI literacy emerges as a global imperative in the wake of ChatGPT. GenAI course enrollments on Coursera surged over the past year as learners sought foundational AI skills and enrolled in courses like “Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT” by Vanderbilt University and “Introduction to Generative AI” by Google Cloud.
  • Learners in regions like Latin America and the Caribbean are focusing more on foundational skills, while learners in North America are diving into more advanced courses like “Generative AI with Large Language Models” by Amazon Web Services and DeepLearning.AI. This suggests that while regions are at different stages of AI adoption, there’s universal recognition of the need to develop AI proficiency
• Micro-credentials continue to prepare learners for in-demand digital jobs. Learners are increasingly turning to industry micro-credentials, including Professional Certificates – for which we have seen a 69% year-on-year increase in enrolments – to gain essential digital skills for jobs. With 60% of workers requiring retraining by 2027, the need for accessible learning pathways is more pressing than ever. 
• The global gender gap in online learning continues to narrow, but regional disparities persist. Over the past year, more women globally have been learning on Coursera, up from 43% in 2022 to 46% in 2023.
  • In North America and Europe, women experience strong barriers to equitable education and careers. However, with a gender gap of five percentage points, the gap is far smaller than almost anywhere else
  • The Asia-Pacific region has a seven-percentage-point gap in gender enrolment, though nations like The Philippines and Thailand have achieved parity
  • The largest disparity is to be found in the Middle East and North Africa. Here, we see a 13-percentage-point difference between female learners and women in the general population
• Nearly one-third of US workers lack foundational digital skills, with workers of color disproportionately affected. As the public and private sectors digitize, the need for highly trained STEM workers grows. However, fewer than 100,000 US graduates earning engineering and computer science degrees each year.
  • The 1,058% surge in GenAI course enrollments and the 61% year-over-year growth in Professional Certificate enrollments among American learners demonstrate the country’s commitment to closing this digital skills gap and preparing for the digital economy. 
  • Washington is the United States’ most skilled state, achieving the country’s highest proficiency scores for Technology and Data Science. It is followed by Colorado and Michigan.

We trust this report will provide actionable insights for leaders, inspire collaboration among institutions, and contribute to a future where access to high-quality learning empowers everyone. The full report can be accessed at https://www.coursera.org/skills-reports/global/.

The post Presenting the 2024 Coursera Global Skills Report appeared first on Coursera Blog.