Egypt ranked fourth in the Middle East and North Africa region and 43rd globally on the Artificial Intelligence and Human Skills Integration Index, according to the 2026 Global Skills Report issued by Coursera. The index measures the extent to which learners in 98 countries acquire the technical skills needed for artificial intelligence alongside communication, evaluation, and decision-making skills, while taking into account each country’s broader level of readiness.
The ranking comes as Egypt’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the period between 2025 and 2030 aims to train 30,000 specialists in the field. The “Career and Employment Prospects” platform also provides data on more than 400 occupations, with the aim of helping learners align education and training decisions with job requirements and employment trends.
Clear Growth in Artificial Intelligence-Related Learning
The report’s eighth edition was based on data from a database of more than 300 million learners across the Coursera and Udemy platforms, in addition to national readiness data drawn from the Government AI Readiness Index issued by Oxford Insights.
Enrollment in artificial intelligence courses in Egypt rose by 24% year on year. Enrollment in generative artificial intelligence courses grew by 83%, while enrollment in courses on workflows based on AI agents increased by 111%. Enrollment in AI security courses also rose by 131%.
Key learning areas include artificial intelligence and machine learning fundamentals, data and analytics, and applications and modeling of large language models.
Human Skills Remain Part of the Equation
The report shows that, alongside technical skills, learners in Egypt are developing capabilities that help them evaluate and explain artificial intelligence outputs. The skills mentioned include communication and presentation, understanding and influencing stakeholder needs, innovation, ethics and governance, and adaptability and resilience.
Enrollment in complex problem-solving courses increased by 6%, while enrollment in critical-thinking courses declined by 9% and enrollment in innovation courses fell by 3%. The report links data and analytics skills with communication, critical thinking, and sound judgment skills, and also notes the pairing of artificial intelligence and machine learning fundamentals with communication and presentation skills.
What Matters in Practice?
The figures indicate that the expansion of artificial intelligence-related learning in Egypt is not limited to building skills in models and tools, but is also connected to workers’ ability to interpret results, review assumptions, and explain model limitations. This is an interpretation based on the skills identified by the report, and is not an independent assessment of the quality of educational outcomes or labor-market readiness.
These indicators take on additional importance given the World Bank’s 2025 Digital Progress and Trends Report, which stated that the number of vacancies requiring artificial intelligence skills in Egypt doubled between 2021 and 2024. Enrollment in microcredential programs also increased by 43% overall and by 111% in artificial intelligence-related programs.
The index’s limitations remain important when interpreting the results; it measures learning behavior and national readiness according to the methodology described, and by itself does not establish the level at which skills are applied within companies or their actual impact on productivity. Kais Zeribi, Coursera’s general manager for the Middle East and Africa, believes that coordination among employers, educational institutions, and government entities, along with linking training to practical application, will be necessary to capitalize on this interest.