Saudi Arabia ranks among the top 10 countries in the world for the overall business acumen of its workforce, according to the latest Global Skills Report from US-based giant open online course provider Coursera.
Learners in the Kingdom demonstrated 91 % business acumen proficiency with strengths in accounting, human resources, and strategy and operations.
The Global Skills Report urged leaders of the nation’s workforce to find ways to build on this advantage and expand into additional business skills such as finance, business analysis and digital marketing.
Moreover, the report stated that as the Kingdom transitions to a more sustainable economy, leaders in industry, workforce development and higher education should reinforce their workforce strengths. A World Economic Forum report said Saudi Arabia was one of the top 10 countries globally for digital literacy.
Saudi learners showed cutting-edge proficiency levels in human resources (97%), followed by accounting, and strategy and operations (93% each), sales (89%), leadership and management (88%), and communications (84%).
Learners have cutting-edge technology skills in security engineering (96%), computer networking (87%) and operating systems (76%), and the skills are competitive in software engineering (62%).
In the emerging category in the database, Saudi learners recorded 44% and 40% in mobile development.
They achieved 21% in each of computer programming and cloud computing and 11% web development.
In data science skills, learners in the Kingdom showed emerging skills in mathematics (38%), but lagged behind in machine learning (19%), data analytics (16%), and data management (12%).
While the Kingdom has improved its overall business skills proficiency ranking from 11th to 10th globally, competencies in technology and data science could be further improved, the report suggested, especially with the goals of digital transformation outlined to fulfill Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia ranks 62nd globally in technology skills proficiency and 88th in data science proficiency.
The Global Skills Report draws on data from 100 million learners in more than 100 countries who have used Coursera over the past year to develop a new skill.
