Future-proofing your career prospects when selecting your next study path? Who will you take advice from – the UK government or Microsoft?

This Summer, Microsoft published the 40 industries it expects to be most and least affected by AI in the future of employment. The thinking behind the UK’s Frontier Industries, whose related HE training courses are expected to be more readily-funded when 2027’s Lifelong Learning Entitlement lands, doesn’t necessarily align with the musings of this longstanding institution of the tech world. These Industries (IS-8) are where the government has identified skills gaps. 

It is an understandable assumption that the fields most affected by AI may be the ones where the number of roles will dwindle, as AI takes up the reigns and generates efficiencies. So, we might expect the UK government to avoid pouring funds into training for these sectors who won’t be generating any additional jobs any time soon. On the contrary, public relations and communication activities, translation and interpretation activities, and library and archive activities appear both on the IS-8 list, as well as Microsoft’s list of areas where the impact of AI is expected to be most prevalent.

It may seem imprudent to train people up in industries where fewer people will be required due to advances in AI. On the flip side, who knows? Perhaps it’ll be useful for people to retrain in these areas, since the way we interact with data relevant to these disciplines will differ so much once AI has thoroughly got its mits on the relevant workloads. Is it possible we’ll need to train people to become capable of working more effectively with AI and its sophisticated outputs at this advanced level?

Pouring over the sub-sectors identified in the UK’s Industrial Strategy allows you to take in a whole range of professional fields. The most seemingly random? The manufacture of jewellery “and related articles”. Has that just been thrown in there to distract our global enemies from the focus on warfare and defence? On the other hand, some titles are suitably benign and vague. I’m quite intrigued by “Cultural Education”.

Those that strike most fear are: “Nuclear Fusion and production of Complex Weapons” and ” Telecommunications and Space Science” (suggesting an apocalyptic future where communications go down, and the lucky few escape nuclear war via space travel). Never fear, if you need a pick-me-up, be reassured that green technologies feature heavily on the list too.

Coming back down to earth for a minute, for The Open University the Lifelong Learning Entitlement is an exciting prospect. After all, modular learning is what the University is all about. This approach acknowledges the desire of some students to select what they study with care – committing to a realistic pace and quantity of study, rather than signing up to a heavy three years at an intensive rate, with little opportunity for personalisation or simultaneous full-time employment. Whatever students are eligible to study and choose, the reforms reinforce the institution’s long-held belief that it’s never too late to retrain, upskill and change direction. With an ageing workforce we’d love to see those who are 60-plus being given the same rights once the scheme is established, but for now we’ll focus on paving the way for this new funding opportunity for the OU students of the future.