By Marni Baker Stein
As online enrollment outpaces on-campus programs at nearly half of U.S. institutions, universities are continuing expanding their online catalogs. The 200+ universities on Coursera recently reached a major milestone, amassing more than 200 million course enrollments.
Building on this momentum, nine new universities joined Coursera in 2024, including Clemson University, IMD Business School, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, and Saïd Business School – University of Oxford.
Below, discover how universities around the world are meeting the demand with top courses that teach job-relevant skills, like GenAI and project management, as well as foundational subjects, like communication and leadership.
Trending university courses in 2024
Universities launched over 650 courses on Coursera in 2024, with the majority in business, data science, and computer science. Notably, 10% of those courses focused on GenAI, the fastest-growing skill for both 2024 and 2025.
With over 5,800 university courses on Coursera, they now make up more than 60% of the entire catalog and accumulated over 24 million enrollments in 2024 alone.
Top courses from universities in 2024
Learners flocked to evergreen topics, including managing financial risk from Yale, training machine learning models from Stanford, and developing English skills from the University of Pennsylvania and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
To meet rising workforce needs, universities responded with new courses. 2024’s top new course helps meet the annual demand for 2.3 million new project management professionals, equipping learners with essential skills like project planning, software tools, and team leadership.
Communication also emerged as a critical skill and is featured in every top new course — from telling captivating stories and learning new languages to automating communication with an AI assistant.
Top new university courses
- Project Management Essentials (Howard University)
- The Art of Storytelling (IESE Business School)
- Comprendre la France, Advanced French Language & Culture (École Polytechnique)
- English Intermediate B1.2 (Università di Napoli Federico II)
- OpenAI GPTs: Creating Your Own Custom AI Assistants (Vanderbilt University)
Universities remain the authority on human skills
While universities teach many of the fastest-growing skills for 2025, including prompt engineering and business optimization, they continue to be the go-to institutions to cultivate foundational skills.
University courses accounted for the majority of enrollments in all the below skills. With accelerating AI adoption, these transferable skills are increasingly vital for workforce adaptability, according to McKinsey.
- People management
- Leadership and management
- Writing
- Lifelong learning
- Emotional Intelligence
- Problem solving
- Creativity
- Business communication
- Resilience
- Innovation
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