UK Lagging Behind Rest of the World in Tech Skills Development, Shows Report

The UK is underperforming in skills development despite the accelerating pace of digital transformation, a study has shown.

Today Coursera released their annual Global Skill Report 2023, which showed that the UK ranked 64th globally in skills development. These findings even suggest the country is regressing in skill proficiency when compared to previous reports, having ranked 38th in 2022. 

In stark contrast to the UK's position, eight of the top ten globally performing countries are European, pointing to a pressing need for the UK to reassess its skilling strategies.

The annual report takes insights from more than 124 million Coursera learners - including 3 million in the UK - and identifies regional and national trends around talent skill proficiency and opportunity. 

In the UK, learners are particularly interested in entrepreneurial skills such as resilience, adaptability, and risk management, and AI-related skills like artificial neural networks and machine learning algorithms. 

This over-indexing on entrepreneurial and AI skills could serve as a crucial asset in overcoming the digital skills gap, particularly in light of the rapid emergence of generative AI.

Other key UK findings

AI skills growing in demand: UK learners' interest in AI-related skills could prove vital is overcoming the disruption that generative AI technology is set to cause. Coursera's recent AI survey, which polled 1000 UK business decision-makers, supports the Global Skills Report's findings. It shows that 66% of UK businesses believe that AI will likely reshape their customer offerings or business operations in the next 3 years. However, 34% cited lack of skilled personnel as a significant challenge, underlining the importance of continuous skills development.

Amid challenging economic climate, UK invests in entrepreneurship skills: Compared to learners in other countries, those in the UK are more likely to invest in entrepreneurship skills, with more people taking courses related to Resilience, Adaptability, and Risk Management, perhaps an indication of more people starting their own businesses and side hustles for financial support.

Strengths and Opportunities: Despite a somewhat disappointing overall ranking, UK learners show a competitive edge in key areas such as human resources, finance, marketing, theoretical computer science, and web development. This suggests an untapped potential for the UK to bolster its standing in business and technology skills with strategic investment.

High uptake but low global ranking: The UK shows great interest in online learning with 3 million registered Coursera learners (5.6% of the UK’s working-age population), yet the UK lags globally in skills development. Notably, almost half of these learners are women, reflecting an encouraging trend towards gender parity in online learning.

“The rise of digital jobs and remote work is creating unprecedented opportunities for local talent to participate in the global workforce if they have the right skills and credentials,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO. 

“This report provides actionable insights on the rapidly changing skills landscape and talent distribution worldwide that will help institutions inform their human capital and workforce strategies.”