Malaysian Learners Embrace GenAI and Role-Specific Skills in 2024, Coursera Reports

Kuala Lumpur, 12 December 2024: Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR), one of the world’s largest online learning platforms, unveiled its annual learner trends for Malaysia, based on insights from over 862,000 registered learners. This year, Malaysia showed an increase of 20% in the total number of learners on Coursera, highlighting the ambition and commitment of Malaysians to upskill and stay competitive in this rapidly evolving global workforce. Two key trends emerged in 2024: an unprecedented demand for GenAI learning and a growing preference for role-specific content to prepare for specific jobs. 

According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2024, AI skills have become a top hiring priority for Malaysian leaders – 62% stated they wouldn’t hire candidates lacking AI skills, and 65% would prefer less experienced candidates with AI skills over more experienced ones without them. Reflecting this shift, someone in Asia Pacific enrolled in GenAI content on Coursera every 2 minutes in 2024, cementing its position as a must-have skill for professionals across industries. 

The surge in interest for GenAI learning in Malaysia mirrors global and APAC trends. In 2024, Coursera recorded a 5 fold increase in GenAI enrollments, driven by courses such as Google AI Essentials, Generative AI for Everyone and Generative AI: Introduction and Applications. While foundational GenAI courses remained popular, the focus shifted to applying GenAI at work, signaling a maturing interest in practical applications of technology.

Beyond AI, Malaysian learners continued to pursue perennial favorites like business, language, marketing, project management, and data analytics, underscoring the importance of building versatile skills in today’s dynamic job market. Entry-level Professional Certificates (industry-recognized credentials) that require no prior experience or college degree, also saw a rise in uptake. 60% of the top courses like Google’s Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere, and Foundations of Project Management are part of these programs.

“Malaysian learners embraced the future of work in 2024, prioritizing GenAI and job-aligned, mission critical skills to stay competitive in an evolving job market. Their progress amidst GenAI’s disruption shows their resilience, adaptability and drive to lead on a global stage” said Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Coursera. “In 2025, we expect the global race toward AI literacy to further accelerate, and we remain committed to empowering Malaysian learners with accessible and transformative education for success in the AI-powered world.”

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Preliminary insights from Coursera’s Job Skills Report 2025 indicate that Malaysian enterprise learner efforts align closely with broader learner trends. GenAI skills were the most-sought-after by Malaysian learners, followed by leadership and crisis management, empathy and compassion, risk management and analytical thinking, emphasizing the efforts being made to build resilient, future-ready workplaces. These findings highlight the growing synergy between upskilling initiatives driven by Malaysian institutions and the global workforce requirements. The upcoming report will unveil the fastest-growing job skills for 2025, drawn from insights based on the learning habits of Enterprise learners on Coursera.

About Coursera

Coursera was launched in 2012 by two Stanford Computer Science professors, 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 162 million registered learners as of September 30, 2024. Coursera partners with over 350 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, Guided Projects, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Institutions around the world use Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in fields such as data science, technology, and business. Coursera became a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp in February 2021.

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