Latest news with #PrashastiRastogi
Time of India
08-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Coursera global skills report 2025: India ranks 89th; AI and tech skills in high demand
Coursera, Inc., a leading global online learning platform, released its annual Global Skills Report , revealing a 107% year-over-year (YoY) surge in Generative AI (GenAI) enrollments in India and over 2.6 million enrollments to date — the highest of any country globally. With a rapidly growing learner base now exceeding 31 million, India has also surpassed Europe in total learner numbers on Coursera, highlighting its deepening commitment to digital transformation and job-relevant education. Based on insights from Coursera's global community of over 170 million learners, the report tracks emerging skill trends across more than 100 countries. Now in its seventh year, the 2025 edition ranks India 89th globally for overall skills proficiency and 19th in Asia Pacific. Indian learners demonstrate 18% proficiency in business, 22% in technology, and 20% in data science. The report also introduces a new AI Maturity Index, where India ranks mid-tier (#46), signaling a growing but uneven ecosystem for AI innovation and talent development. India's growing skilling ambition is backed by soaring demand for digital and AI talent. India's AI Revolution: A Roadmap to Viksit Bharat estimates the country will need one million AI-skilled professionals by 2026. The World Economic Forum reports that 30% of Indian employers (compared to just 19% globally) are shifting to skills-based hiring by removing degree requirements. Coursera's learner trends reflect this transition, with enrollments in Professional Certificates growing 23% YoY, alongside rising demand for employer-prioritized skills such as AI/ML (+84%), customer service (+41%), and curiosity (+32%). 'India's digital and AI ambition is clearly reflected in both national policies and learner behavior,' said Prashasti Rastogi, Director - Coursera for Campus and Coursera for Government, India. 'From national AI missions to skills-based hiring reforms and interdisciplinary education models, we're seeing the foundations of a future-ready workforce take shape. Coursera is proud to support this transformation by partnering across education, industry, and government to build a scalable and inclusive talent pipeline aligned to India's economic goals.' Key findings for India: India leads globally in GenAI enrollments, with a 107% YoY surge. However, only 30% of GenAI learners are women, compared to 40% of overall Coursera enrollments, revealing a gender gap in emerging tech Certificate enrollments grew 23% YoY to 3.3 million, indicating strong demand for job-relevant credentials. However, only 26% of these enrollments are from women, pointing to an opportunity for more inclusive than half of Coursera learners in India (52%) access the platform via mobile, reflecting the country's strong digital adoption and widening access to flexible, self-paced learners are prioritizing full-stack development and DevOps skills, with strong demand for web development, application lifecycle management, and containerization — reflecting a clear focus on software engineering and scalable tech infrastructure. With over 31 million Coursera learners and a median learner age of 31, India is uniquely positioned to shape the global workforce of the future. The country is expected to contribute 24% of global workforce growth over the next decade, with its working-age population projected to peak at 68% by 2030 . Yet challenges remain. According to the ILO , 47% of Indian workers – and 62% of women – are underqualified for their jobs, underscoring the urgent need for outcome-based, inclusive, and scalable skilling. Bridging this gap will require coordinated national efforts – including expanding public-private partnerships, integrating micro-credentials into higher education, and scaling online learning access. Increasing women's participation in emerging technology fields will also be critical – not just to achieve gender equality, but to unlock the full potential of India's digital economy.
Indian Express
07-08-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
India sees a 107% rise in gen AI course enrolments, ranks 89th globally: Coursera Report
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing jobs worldwide. This technological shift is also prompting millions to embrace AI, which is evident in the recent uptick in takers of online AI courses. It seems professionals from India too are not far behind. The newly released Coursera Global Skills Report 2025 reveals that India has recorded a 107 per cent year-on-year increase in enrolments for generative AI courses with 2.6 million, which is so far the highest in the world. Even though more Indian professionals are enrolling, India ranks 89th globally and 19th in the Asia Pacific region for overall skills proficiency. The seventh edition of Coursera's Global Skills Report assesses countries based on the performance of learners in areas such as business, technology, and data science. The report shows that Indian learners have 18 per cent proficiency in business, 22 per cent in technology, and 20 per cent in data science. This indicates a widening skills gap in crucial sectors. On Coursera's AI Maturity Index that evaluates a country's readiness for AI innovation and talent development, India ranks 46th. This is in line with the recent estimates that suggest India may need about one million professionals skilled in AI by 2026. 'India's digital and AI ambition is clearly reflected in both national policies and learner behaviour. From national AI missions to skills-based hiring reforms and interdisciplinary education models, we're seeing the foundations of a future-ready workforce take shape,' said Coursera's Director for Campus and Government in India, Prashasti Rastogi. When it comes to other key findings, professional certificate enrolments rose 23 per cent year-on-year, reaching 3.3 million. Notably, only 26 per cent of these came from women learners. In gen AI courses, only 30 per cent were women learners compared to the overall 40 per cent enrolments, indicating a gender gap in participation in emerging tech. Another notable finding is that as many as 52 per cent of Indian Coursera users access the platform through their mobile devices. This highlights India's deepening smartphone penetration and preference among learners for flexible modes of learning. Moreover, Indian learners are increasingly opting for full-stack development, DevOps, and containerisation skills, according to the platform. India has 31 million learners with a median learner age of 31, more than Europe's total enrolments, making it a key driver of the global digital workforce. India is expected to contribute about 24 per cent of the global workforce over the next decade; however, a vast number of Indian workers continue to be underqualified. The report throws light on the need to focus on outcome-based skilling, public-private collaboration, and women's participation in tech fields. The Global Skills Report 2025 was based on Coursera's 170 million learners between March 2024 and February 2025, identifying key skills across over 100 countries. Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with over 183 million registered learners as of June 30, 2025.
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Business Standard
30-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Indian employers willing to pay more to candidates with micro credentials
Skills-based hiring is witnessing an upswing in India, with almost 97 per cent of Indian employers willing to offer higher starting salaries to candidates with micro-credentials, especially in high-growth fields such as generative AI, according to a global report by online learning platform Coursera. A micro-credential is a short, competency-based recognition demonstrating a learner's knowledge or skills in a specific area. The report, which surveyed 2,000 employers and students between December 2024 and January 2025, finds that 99 per cent of Indian employers have already adopted or are exploring skills-based hiring to address talent shortages. '95 per cent of employers say they are more likely to hire candidates with a GenAI micro-credential, believing that these hires demonstrate stronger on-the-job performance and faster productivity gains,' the Coursera Micro-Credential Impact Report 2025 stated. Commenting on the same, Prashasti Rastogi, director, Coursera for Campus and Government, India, said that with fast-changing roles and rising demands, Indian employers want graduates to be job-ready from day one. 'Micro-credentials have emerged as one of the most effective and trusted solutions, equipping students with practical skills and offering verifiable proof of their capabilities,' he added. The report adds that 95 per cent of the employers surveyed think that micro-credentials help reduce onboarding time and costs, with 98 per cent of those who have already hired such candidates recording savings of up to 20 per cent in first-year training expenses. The upswing in hiring has also increased student interest, with one in three Indian students surveyed for the report already having earned a micro-credential. The report states that almost 90 per cent of Indian students surveyed are more likely to enrol in a degree programme if it offers a credit-bearing micro-credential. 'These findings align with the growing commitment of Indian universities towards skill-based education through the National Credit Framework (NCrF), which enables students to earn credit for industry credentials and apply them toward a degree, bridging academic learning with job-relevant skills,' Rastogi added.
