Bridging the AI Skills Gap: A Leadership Imperative
As AI reshapes industries and job roles, Higher Education and business leaders must urgently address the growing AI skills gap. This article explores why HE is uniquely positioned to bridge this divide, the strategic risks of inaction, and how to lead confidently into an AI-augmented future.
When I speak with other leaders across the education and business sectors, a common thread emerges: there’s a rising anxiety around artificial intelligence, but also a quiet recognition that we’ve barely scratched the surface in how we respond.
Let’s be clear, AI is not a future challenge, it’s today’s challenge. And the AI skills gap is widening faster than our systems are adapting. As leaders, we don’t have the luxury of waiting. The pace of technological change doesn’t pause for strategy documents, funding reviews, or election cycles. It’s moving, and so must we.
The AI myth
There’s a persistent myth that AI only threatens manual or repetitive roles. But the reality is that AI is now encroaching into areas we’ve long considered “safe, analytical thinking, decision-making, even elements of teaching and curriculum design.
In this landscape, the real risk isn’t job loss, it’s relevance loss. Roles are being reshaped, not removed. That means the skills that underpin those roles must also evolve.
Systems built for the past won’t serve the future
Our existing education and training systems, from degree programmes to apprenticeships, are designed for linear change, not exponential disruption. Our systems must evolve, and quickly.
Higher Education has played a major role in skills development, but the same also applies to further education, be that in colleges or universities, work-based learning, bootcamp operators, or even awarding organisations. The proximity to learners, employers, and fast-changing skills needs puts all of these organisations in a powerful position to lead, but only if they’re supported to embed AI into their provision at pace and scale.
A two-fold challenge
There’s a dual challenge here. The first is ensuring everyone, regardless of their job or qualification level, understands what AI is, how it impacts their work, and how to use it confidently and ethically. The second requires developing specialist skills in areas such as data analysis, automation design, prompt engineering, and responsible AI governance.
These competencies are barely embedded across mainstream curricula, and even less so in employer-led training, apprenticeships, and CPD programmes. Many educators, assessors, and leaders still lack confidence in applying or teaching AI tools themselves.
We cannot afford to wait for the “perfect” national framework. We need grassroots innovation, sector-wide collaboration, and a mindset shift that treats AI as a core component of employability, not an optional extra.
Tinkering around the edges
Most institutions are dabbling in AI, a pilot here, a chatbot there. But that’s not transformation, that’s tinkering. To close the AI skills gap, we need three things:
- Visionary leadership: Senior leaders who recognise that AI isn’t just an IT issue; it’s a strategic, educational, and workforce challenge.
- Systemic integration: AI skills shouldn’t sit in the corner of a digital module. They must be woven through course design, professional development, employer partnerships, and learner engagement.
- Partnership beyond the education sector: No single college or provider can do this alone. We need collaborations with tech companies, employers, community leaders and learners themselves.
This is about culture as much as curriculum. Staff, learners, and stakeholders need to see that your institution gets it; that you’re not just responding to AI, you’re leading with it.
Entrepreneurial thinking
Embedding AI into skills provision isn’t just about tech, it’s also about mindset. We must nurture entrepreneurial thinking: the ability to adapt, solve problems creatively, and work confidently with emerging technologies. Whether it’s an engineering apprentice experimenting with AI-driven design tools, or a care worker learning to use AI-assisted scheduling apps, we need hands-on, real-world learning.
Awarding Organisations have a pivotal role to play in setting the pace here. They can shape new qualifications and assessment models that reflect AI-enabled workflows, not just theoretical knowledge.
The same applies to EdTech firms, who can help build intuitive, accessible tools that make AI feel empowering, not intimidating.
Start with your people
Transformation starts with people, and that includes educators, trainers, support staff, and organisational leaders. If we want our learners to embrace AI, we must first upskill ourselves. We must build AI awareness and strategic understanding among senior leaders and boards. offer CPD in AI tools, use cases, and ethics, and encourage the sharing of good practice and experimentation between providers, educators, and industry mentors.
This isn’t about becoming tech experts, it’s about confidence. If we wait until everyone feels “ready”, we’ll miss the moment.
There is no silver bullet, but there is a clear call to action. Begin with clarity:
- Audit your current capabilities against AI competency frameworks.
- Engage with your local employer base to understand how AI is reshaping their skill needs.
- Pilot credentials or short courses in AI literacy, co-designed with industry.
- Embed AI-related challenges into existing learner projects. Make it real, not theoretical.
Shaping the future
AI is not just another trend, it’s a paradigm shift. And with every shift comes choice. We can either be passive recipients of AI’s impact, or active architects of how it shapes our sectors.
For those of us working in Higher and Further Education, preparing people for the workplace, or developing staff in their careers, the responsibility is real, but so is the opportunity. We have the trust of our communities, the proximity to learners, and the agility to act faster than other parts of the system.
This is about leadership. Not just in job titles, but in mindset. The organisations that lead with curiosity, courage, and collaboration will define the next chapter in education and workforce development.
It starts with you.
By Manny Athwal, Founder and CEO of School of Coding & AI
Responses