Executive Summary
Campus Skills Report
Higher education’s opportunity to lead change
As technology advances across industries, the division of labor among humans, machines, and algorithms is shifting—causing a need for advanced digital and human skills. At this moment, there’s no other institution better suited to meet the growing demand for advanced human capital than higher education.
By equipping students with practical skills—from technical and tool-based to social and cognitive—higher education can drive transformational change not simply for students, but also for economies around the globe. With Coursera, you’ll have a partner to help you lead this change. In the Campus Skills Report, we’ve gathered exclusive insights into the state of skills among student learners that you can use to align your institution’s curricula with the needs of the current and future job market.
Are students prepared for emerging jobs?
It depends. See how students are tracking toward in-demand roles.
- Data visualization skills are critical for data scientist jobs
Knowing how to present data to business stakeholders is a key skill students can continue to build.
- Having a broad range of skills will benefit future machine learning engineers
To prepare for this role, students need to strengthen core programming and statistical skills.
- By combining human and data-driven skills, students can thrive in marketing
Students are advancing data and communication skills—an ideal combination for this storytelling-focused field.
Country-specific factors are influencing different skill trends
Explore these highlights from the report to see how macro-economic and environmental factors are shaping student skill interests in specific markets.
- The world’s largest youth population is building emerging technology skills
Students in India are learning blockchain, cloud computing, and mobile development to prepare for jobs across the technology industry.
- In Saudi Arabia, students are pairing human and business skills together
To strengthen chances of joining the private sector, students are developing writing and emotional intelligence skills to confidently lead teams and strategies.
- Although programming is popular in Mexico, students can advance technology skills
To prepare for roles in growing technology hubs such as Tijuana and Guadalajara, students can advance skills in interactive design and AI.
See which skills students are learning to prepare for jobs
Get a sneak peek of students’ learning patterns and career preferences.
- Deepening human skills opens more career doors
Students across disciplines are noticing a need to complement technical skills with human skills to ensure workplace success.
- STEM students can design successful careers by learning business skills
Leadership and entrepreneurship skills are strong draws for mathematics and statistics students, who must learn how to apply analytical skills to the workplace.
- By learning to harness data, business students can drive company strategies
As business students pursue programming and machine learning skills, they’re building abilities that can help businesses make sense of mission-critical data.
