๐ง Durable skills drive future readiness. AI in Higher Ed Webinar next week.
Durable skills top employer demand, and AI education partnerships accelerate worldwide. Join our webinar next week: Experiments to Ecosystems: AI in Higher Education.
Hello ๐
According to QS Labor Analytics, the top core skills employers seek are problem solving, critical thinking, analytical thinking, and communication. America Succeeds' Portrait to Practice, a 50-state policy scan released in March 2026, reinforces this demand: seven of the ten most requested skills in U.S. job postings are durable skills, sought nearly four times more often than technical ones. In the market, employers have introduced high school internships and programs to strengthen these competencies, institutions have released case studies to show ways to reduce skills gaps, and recently, a local US government secured a $4M grant to implement durable skills across the state.
As generative AI automates routine tasks, durable skills increasingly distinguish human contribution in the workplace, a concern echoed by the OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026, which warns that over-reliance on AI tools risks creating an "illusion of learning" that masks underdeveloped critical and analytical skills. Education and training providers are responding with curricula, credentialing systems, and work-based pathways that make these competencies more visible, verifiable, and central to career readiness.
Communication & critical thinking top durable skills in US.
US employers value communication and critical thinking most, but the gap between importance and career readiness is widest in the skills that matter most.
๐ For more insights on the education market, go to the QS Analytics Platform if you are customer or request a demo to learn more.
๐ป WEBINAR: Experiments to Ecosystems: AI in Higher Education. 31 March.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving beyond isolated pilots and experiments to reshape entire universities. But what does effective, institution-wide AI adoption actually look like in practice?
Join us for this webinar explores how higher education institutions around the world are integrating AI across teaching, research, and university operations. Drawing on international case studies and expert perspectives, the session will examine how universities are moving from experimentation to coordinated, system-level transformation.
โญ AI & Digital Innovation Spotlight
๐ Simplilearn and Saรฏd Business School at the University of Oxford partnered to launch three AIโfocused executive education programmes aimed at equipping leaders with enterprise transformation skills.
๐ง Udacity, now part of Accenture LearnVantage, launched a fully accredited MBA in AI product leadership combining business fundamentals with applied AI training, available online and recognized in over 60 countries.
๐ค EY launched an AI Academy in Australia to provide structured, roleโbased AI training and governance support for organisations, aiming to build workforce skills, standardise AI use and embed responsible practices.
๐ค Policy & Partnerships
โจ The UK Government has launched a new levelโฏ4 AI and automation practitioner apprenticeship through Skills England to upskill workers in AI adoption, productivity and safe use, available to all employers and linked to broader national AI skills programmes.
๐ค Microsoft joined the UK governmentโs TechFirst programme as its first industry partner, agreeing to provide work placements and employee mentoring to support expansion of AI and technology skills training across the national talent pipeline.
ึ AWS designated five US colleges as regional lead institutions to coordinate AWS Machine Learning University training, curriculum development, faculty support and student AI and machine learning programs across higher education.
๐ช Power Moves & Funding
๐ UpGrad, an Indian online higher education company, agreed to acquire Unacademy, combining operations to consolidate Indiaโs edtech sector and integrate platforms.
๐ค Kodree, a tech learning platform, secured $10M to expand its AI-supported coding platform, focusing on user acquisition, global growth, and scaling a practice-based learning model.
๐ฉ๐ปโ๐ซ Chalkie, an instructor support solution, raised $4M to expand operations and development of its AI platform that generates curriculum-aligned lesson plans and teaching materials.
โ๏ธ NPrep, a nurse training platform, raised $1.5M to expand its AI-based nursing exam preparation platform capabilities and scale access for nursing students and professionals.
๐ฅ๏ธ Fullmind, a US-based digital learning institute, acquired Elevate K-12 to form a virtual K-12 education provider and reach across more than 225 school districts.
