The fastest-growing skills of 2026 and the top learning trends from 2025

By Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer, Coursera

Looking back to 2025, GenAI skills will remain a major focus for learners around the world, but this year we also saw strong growth in foundational workforce skills such as project management, leadership, and data literacy.

As artificial intelligence rapidly changes everything we know, what unites us in universities and industry is how we help learners around the world acquire the right skills they need to advance their careers.

2025 in review: Platform growth and learner needs

This year, 22 million new learners Join Coursera — Almost 82,000 people per day. A typical day to see 150,000 registrants, The GenAI course has 14 sign-ups per minuteand launch 10 new items. Coursera achieves:

• 191 million Total number of learners worldwide
• Recorded 41.8 million registered peopleone A year-on-year increase of 14%
• 5.4 million GenAI registrantsnearly double last year’s total

We now offer more than 12,000 courses, majors and certificates, 2,750+ new content This year, more than 375 of our university and industry partners, such as Anthropic, University of Cambridge, Harvard Business Publishing, Pearson and UC Santa Barbara, added content.

_{*Data as of September 30, 2025}

Most popular courses in 2025

Learners continue to balance technical advancement with broad professional preparation. By 2025, learners will seek technical skills such as Fundamentals: Data, Data, Everywhere, AI for Everyone and Python for Data Science, AI & Development, and combine this with foundational skills such as English for Career Development, Science of Happiness, Excel Skills for Business: Fundamentals and Project Management Fundamentals.

Most Popular Courses by Industry Partners in 2025

1. The Basics: Data, Data, Everywhere (Google)
2. Artificial Intelligence for Everyone (DeepLearning.AI)
3. New! Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence (Google Cloud)
4. Project Management Basics (Google)
5. Network Security Basics (Google)
6. Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Fundamentals (Google)
7. New! Generative AI: Rapid Engineering Fundamentals (IBM)
8. New! Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (Google)
9. Python for data science, artificial intelligence, and development (IBM)
10. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) (IBM)

Most popular courses from university partners in 2025

1. Supervised Machine Learning: Regression and Classification (Stanford University)
2. English for Professional Development (University of Pennsylvania)
3. Financial Markets (Yale University)
4. Programming for Everyone (Introduction to Python) (University of Michigan)
5. ChatGPT Live Engineering (Vanderbilt University)
6. The Science of Happiness (Yale University)
7. Introduction to Psychology (Yale University)
8. English for Common Interactions in the Workplace: Basic Level (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
9. First Step Korean (Yonsei University)
10. Excel Business Skills: Essentials (Macquarie University)

Universities remain the top choice for the rigor, foundational literacy and interdisciplinary problem-solving that underpin growth, while industry partners accelerate innovation by bringing emerging tools and real-world workflows into the learning experience.

Microcredentials: Extended trust for two ecosystems

Micro-credentials such as professional certificates and specializations are reshaping the way people learn and work. These targeted learning pathways are becoming a credible signal of job readiness, with 96% of employers saying microcredentials enhance a candidate’s job application. Entry-level employees with microcredentials report tangible career benefits: 28% received a raise, and 89% built or strengthened their soft skills, especially critical thinking (72%) and problem-solving (72%).

The growing demand for these credentials is reflected across the platform.

New professional certificates from

New majors from

As learners look for ways to get good jobs and companies look for job-ready talent, micro-credentials are proving to be an important bridge between education and employment.

The fastest growing skills of 2026

Behind every course, certificate, and GenAI breakthrough lies the same fundamental driver of progress: skills. They are about connecting learning to opportunity, and they are evolving faster than ever before. According to the World Economic Forum, nearly four in 10 of today’s core skills are expected to transform by 2030, with technical capabilities such as artificial intelligence and foundational skills growing faster than any other.

These are not just future trends. We see these changes every day on Coursera, as learners around the world build skills and prepare for the future of work. Based on recent enrollments in the millions, these are the skills most in need of learning in 2026.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping roles in every field, but lasting career mobility still depends on enduring, human-centered skills. Learners are investing in problem solving, decision-making and collaboration – with critical thinking rising from seventh to the top skill by the third quarter of this year. These capabilities enhance judgment and communication in ways technology cannot and, combined with emerging technology skills, define a resilient, future-ready workforce.

Artificial Intelligence and Technology Skills

• Advanced Tips
• artificial intelligence agent
• Human-machine collaboration
• Artificial Intelligence Application Creation
• AI-assisted design

Continued growth of non-artificial intelligence foundations

• Business
• data science
• science and technology

human skills

• personal development
• cooperate
• Arts and Humanities

As the pace of change accelerates, learning remains a powerful engine of opportunity. Universities provide the rigorous conditions to develop lasting skills, while industry partners provide the tools to prepare learners for their next step. Together they create flexible pathways and trustworthy credentials that boost confidence, employability and motivation – delivering the right learning at the right time.

and Coursera PlusLearners can explore thousands of college and industry courses, certificates, and applied AI learning to help them become career-ready.