The United Arab Emirates ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and second globally in overall business skills in Coursera’s annual Global Skills Report for 2021.
In its annual report, the online course provider revealed the share of its STEM course enrollments by women in the UAE increased from 33 percent (pre-pandemic) to 41 percent in 2020.
The report also found out that 43 percent of its UAE-based learners were women.
This year’s study draws on performance data since the pandemic’s onset from more than 77 million learners, 441,000 of which are from the UAE, on the platform to benchmark skills proficiency across business, technology, and data science for over 100 countries.
Communication, Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Management, and Strategy and Operations are areas where UAE learners have placed within the top 97 percentile or higher in business skills.
These are all fundamental aspects used to accurately interpret and respond to the opportunities and challenges that determine the success of an organization.
“In recent years, the UAE government has implemented numerous initiatives, aimed at promoting a skills-based economy. These are having a positive impact on the economy as evidenced by the UAE’s business leadership position in our rankings,” Anthony Tattersall, Coursera Vice President of EMEA said.
While UAE’s overall business skills proficiency ranks near the top of the list globally, technology and data science skills represent areas for continued growth ranking just 72 and 71 respectively.
The study highlights a significant opportunity for UAE professionals to upskill in these fields the country’s talent pools for technology and data science skills.
Meanwhile, the overall technology skills performance of UAE was its competitiveness in Security Engineering, where it ranked in 77 percentile. With the country witnessing a 250 percent increase in cyberattacks through the pandemic, there has been a strong emphasis on attracting and developing cybersecurity skills within the UAE.
