The U.K. is the 25th most technically proficient country in Europe, a new report by online course provider Coursera has found. It sits well behind other digital leaders in the region like Germany, France and Spain.

Globally, the U.K. came 45th out of 109 countries, which is an improvement from last year’s 64th place; however, considering the government’s significant investments into digital skills, the country’s rank suggests that current efforts may need to be reassessed.

But the U.K. is by no means a reflection of Europe as a whole when it comes to technical proficiency. Switzerland came in first place on the global ranking, and European countries occupied 17 of the top 25 places. Germany, France and Spain came in 3rd, 5th and 7th, respectively.

The findings were published in Coursera’s 2024 Global Skills Report, which draws on data from more than 148 million global online course learners and other indicators including the Global Innovation Index, Labour Force Participation Rate, Human Capital Index and GDP per capita.

As an example of an area where the U.K. may be falling behind, the country has seen a lower uptake in AI upskilling in the past 12 months (961%) compared to the U.S. (1,058%) and the global average (1,060%). Donal McMahon, vice president of data science at job site Indeed, told TechRepublic earlier this year that companies around the world “are all searching for employees who know AI and can adapt to new and emerging technologies.”

SEE: Which IT Skills Are Most in Demand in Q1 2024?

Nikolaz Foucaud, managing director of EMEA at Coursera, told TechRepublic in an email: “While the U.K. boasts a strong technology services sector — one that employs over 1.7 million people — we need to significantly increase both enterprise and governmental investment in upskilling to create an internationally-competitive labour force.

“We must strive for greater collaboration between higher education institutions, government and the technology industry to meet the rapidly evolving skill requirements of the digital economy. Without this collaboration and the right level of investment, we will continue to fall behind in technical skills proficiency.”

U.K.’s digital skills shortage

The level of “skills-shortage vacancies,” where a job cannot be filled due to a lack of skills, qualifications or experience among applicants, is very high in the information and communications sector in the U.K. The figure climbed from an already high 25% in 2017 to 43% in 2022, the last year for which data is available.

SEE: Top IT Skills Trends in the U.K. for 2024

This digital skills shortage is not going unnoticed. In 2023, Red Hat surveyed IT managers in large U.K.-based enterprises about why teams were struggling with a skills shortage, and the top three reasons were:

• High workloads preventing people from finding the time to upskill.
• The lack of budget for training, upskilling or recruitment.
• Teams working in silos, preventing cross-team learning opportunities.

Recent investments in the U.K.’s digital skills

The U.K. government has noted the country’s digital skills shortage, and has made a series of key investments in the past year or so to try and address it. In March 2023, the U.K. government launched its plan to make the country a science and technology superpower by 2030. More than £370 million was earmarked for boosting infrastructure, investment and skills for technologies like quantum and AI.

The following November, more than £200 million was announced to support colleges and universities to offer more training opportunities in industries including digital. This March, Science Secretary Michelle Donelan unveiled another package of more than £1.1 billion to fund 4,000 doctorates in engineering and physical sciences.

SEE: UK Tech Trends & Predictions for 2024

Microsoft has also made significant investments into bridging the U.K.’s digital skills gap. In December 2023, the tech giant announced a “multi-million pound investment” to provide AI skills training to more than one million people. It is hoped this will boost the U.K.’s AI sector by helping more people move into AI and data-related career fields.

While it may take a number of years for the impacts of these investments to come to fruition, the Coursera analysts wrote that the results of the Global Skills Report highlight how there’s still “an urgent need for targeted upskilling initiatives to ensure the workforce can meet the evolving demands of the digital economy.”

Popular and in-demand tech skills in Europe

AI

The Coursera report revealed that the number of individuals in the U.K. who enrolled for generative AI courses increased by 961% from 2023 to 2024. This reflects the growing popularity of technical roles like data analyst and software developer and the population’s interest in developing the skills necessary to fill them.

The country is over-indexing in skills like machine learning algorithms and applied machine learning, meaning that individuals are disproportionately enrolling in a given skill compared to learners globally. According to the U.K. government, the AI sector already employs more than 50,000 people in the U.K. and contributes more than £3.7 billion to the economy every year. By 2035, the U.K. AI market is forecast to grow to more than $1 trillion.

SEE: The 10 Best AI Courses in 2024

Foucaud told TechRepublic: “The meteoric rise of popularity in AI courses is largely being driven by demand for AI skills from businesses and institutions looking to capitalise on the promise of greater productivity and increased competitiveness that AI brings.

“It is also true that individuals either concerned about the threat that technological innovation may pose to their livelihoods, or excited by the prospect of acquiring cutting-edge new skills with a view to increasing seniority, salary, or both, are demonstrating an interest in AI irrespective of their organisation’s stance on the technology.

“Beyond the economic and personal development impulses behind high uptake of AI courses, there is also simply a strong interest in getting to grips with the nuances of a technology that will likely define the future of work, and have significant societal ripple effects.”

Cyber security

Cyber security is currently one of the biggest technological threats to U.K. businesses. A recent report from Microsoft and Goldsmiths, University of London found that just 13% of U.K. businesses are resilient to cyberattacks, with 48% deemed vulnerable and the remaining 39% facing high risk. This risk extends to Europe, with a 2023 study from Cisco finding that less than 10% of companies in the region are deemed mature enough to tackle today’s cybersecurity issues.

Despite the increasing adoption of AI and machine learning related skills, cyber security is not benefitting from the same popularity. The Coursera report found that European enrollments in cybersecurity courses declined by 5% in 2024, despite Europe being the region most targeted by cyberattacks.

Foucaud told TechRepublic: “IT and cyber experts report that, whilst businesses are hiring for cyber experts, the current hiring process is too reliant on university degrees, which do not on their own prepare candidates with the right cyber skills.

“To address this concern, there will be an increased need to deploy alternative forms of credential that prioritise equipping individuals with this essential skill set at speed and scale.”