By Justina Nixon-Saintil | VP, CSR and Chief Impact Officer
Published 03-07-25
Submitted by IBM
IBM has been working with universities for almost a century. Today, we’re excited to share the new IBM SkillsBuild university strategy to strengthen AI education in universities, helping them cultivate talent among future developers, and drive economic growth worldwide.
Today’s skills gap presents an obstacle to innovation and economic development. The demand for AI skills is a top priority for companies, universities and learners, due to mass adoption of AI, the rise of open-source AI models available for the general public and the new proliferation of AI assistants and agents. In fact, the latest Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum shows that the skills gap remains the most significant barrier to business transformation, and that by 2030, 39% of current skills may become outdated. Developers face a similar challenge according to recent research from IBM and Morning Consult. For example, 76% of developers surveyed say they don’t consider themselves to be experts in generative AI. This trend is likely to continue and the skills gap would grow at the same accelerated pace. To foster the technical talent needed to fuel open innovation and drive business results, we need to invest in the skills of our future workforce.
How can IBM support students and aspiring developers? In 2023, IBM announced a commitment to providing free AI training to 2 million learners worldwide over three years. When we undertook this work, we knew that different groups of learners would have different needs, and that cross-industry alignment on how to approach this global challenge would be required. To help address this, we co-created an AI competencies guide through the AI Alliance. We worked to collect data, generate insights, and align on recommendations to define the essential AI competencies across key sectors and roles, as well as a defined range in levels from fluency, to proficiency, to expertise, and finally mastery.
Building on this AI Alliance framework guidance, we have created a new strategy to help university students and aspiring developers build the AI competencies that will help them thrive. The key elements of this work are faculty training, online learning, hands-on labs, group innovation challenges, as well as practical real-world learning opportunities. Each of our student-facing offerings is developed for key personas, to respond to their needs and help them build their AI competencies to reach their goals, and all are available through our IBM SkillsBuild program.
Results of our pilots around the world:
As we’ve piloted this approach around the world, we have already seen some early success stories. For example, through IBM SkillsBuild, two teams of university students in Boston built a chatbot using IBM’s generative AI technology. The tool aims to help students explore if their work outside the traditional college environment could be applied for college credit. Additionally, students in India have built watsonx solutions focused on the legal profession, farming, and nutrition. And in the UK, we worked with a team of students who built a disaster-response robot using IBM’s AI and data platform technology. Equipped with advanced sensors and a virtual assistant, built from scratch using IBM watsonx, the robot would assess its environment, identify obstacles, connect with individuals on the ground, and send important information back to rescue teams, making it a valuable asset during critical moments.
Looking ahead:
The pace of AI innovation continues to challenge and inspire businesses across industries, making skilled talent even more important than ever. As we see the rise of more open-source AI models, it’s clear that the pace of transformation is not slowing down. The future of AI will be shaped by students, educators, and professionals who not only have the skills to use generative AI, but also to manage AI agents, or even build them.
In the months ahead, we’re excited to expand our work with more schools and learners across disciplines to build AI skills. We will continue to:
Together with universities and our network of IBM SkillsBuild partners, we are investing in the pipeline of technological talent for our future, and preparing them for the marketplace.
If you’re a student, visit the IBM SkillsBuild site.
If you’re a university or faculty and would like to participate or learn more, please visit https://skillsbuild.org/organizations-supporting-college-students/interest-form.
Innovation – joining invention and insight to produce important, new value – is at the heart of what we are as a company. And, today, IBM is leading an evolution in corporate citizenship by contributing innovative solutions and strategies that will help transform and empower our global communities.
Our diverse and sustained programs support education, workforce development, arts and culture, and communities in need through targeted grants of technology and project funds. To learn more about our work in the context of IBM's broader corporate responsibility efforts, please visit Innovations in Corporate Responsibility.
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