🤔 In the Skills Economy, which credentials will lose signaling power?
The skills challenge can’t be solved in silos. Employers, governments, and universities are all being pushed to move faster - and work together. Join peers from around the world at Global Skills Week this March in Washington, D.C.
Hello 👋
Employer hiring patterns are continuing to challenge degrees as a proxy for readiness, with more organizations prioritising skills validation, applied experience, and mid-career capability as entry-level roles tighten. At the same time, governments and multi-laterals are responding: global initiatives tied to AI and workforce readiness are accelerating, from WEF’s large-scale national retraining programmes to targeted investments in digital and vocational skills across emerging and advanced economies. The tension for university and system leaders is growing and workforce alignment is becoming a system-level expectation, while academic structures, incentives, and traditional credentials still move at slower speeds. Expect the next phase of institutional debate to focus on whether adding more degrees is as important as investing in making skills visible, portable, and trusted by employers at scale.
80% of employers expect AI & digital skills to be visible.
Fig. 1. Net increase in perceived importance of skills amongst employers, 2025-2030F
👉 Analyze the labor market. Unpack the trends in Workforce and Postsecondary. Access it on the QS Analytics Platform if you are customer or request a demo to learn more.
📣 Don't miss Global Skills Week March 25-26 Washington, D.C. 🇺🇸
Global Skills Week 2026 convenes the world’s leading skills-focused voices from industry, post-secondary institutions and business schools, alongside senior policy-makers and economic development and technology leaders. The week examines how education providers and employers are responding to shifting workforce demands and where critical capability gaps persist.
⭐ AI & Digital Innovation Spotlight
֎ Anthropic and global network Teach For All launched a worldwide AI training initiative, giving more than 100,000 teachers and alumni access to the AI Literacy and Creator Collective to develop AI fluency and adapt Claude for classroom use across 63 countries.
✨ Carnegie Mellon University and the Gates Foundation are investing $55M to launch Learnvia, an AI‑enabled learning platform that integrates course content, assignments, and an AI tutor to support student success in gateway college courses.
✨ OpenAI announced the Education for Countries initiative to work with governments, universities, and partners to integrate AI tools like ChatGPT Edu into national education systems globally.
🤝 Policy & Partnerships
♾️ The U.S. House passed the AI‑WISE Act to develop an AI roadmap for small agencies and enterprises that includes educational resources, online learning modules and guidance on evaluating and adopting AI tools.
🎓 India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship signed an MoU with the World Economic Forum to launch a Skills Accelerator intended to bridge critical workforce skills gaps by aligning vocational and technical training with evolving industry demand.
🤖 The UK government has launched a national “Open University for AI” initiative offering free AI skills training to all adults and industry partners, with the aim of upskilling 10M workers by 2030.
🚀 Mexico’s government has opened a Public AI Training Center that has started training 10,000+ students in AI, data analysis, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and related technology skills with hybrid courses and dual certification.
💪 Power Moves & Funding
🚀 Emversity raised $30M to deepen its presence in healthcare and hospitality skilling programs, while expanding into infrastructure-led engineering, procurement & construction (EPC), and manufacturing.
🧠 Preply, a Spanish language learning solution, raised $150M to expand its language learning platform, develop AI tools, and scale global operations connecting tutors and learners.
🔊 BoldVoice, a US-based voice coaching platform, raised $21M to expand its AI platform that converts text into expressive speech and voice applications.
🎟️ Nerd Apply, a college guidance provider, has raised $3.2M to scale its counseling tool that aggregates de‑identified college admissions outcomes to support evidence‑based guidance.
