Technology company HP has urged Nigeria and other countries to strengthen their education systems by equipping students with transferable skills needed to navigate a labour market increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI).
The recommendation is contained in the 2026 HP Futures report, developed by HP in collaboration with the Global Learning Council and the Education Leaders Forum.
The report calls on policymakers and education leaders to make creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration central to school curricula, arguing that these capabilities will remain important as AI changes how people learn and work.
It also recommends that the skills, described as durable skills, should be properly funded, incorporated into school timetables and assessed alongside traditional academic subjects rather than treated as optional activities.
According to the report, education systems must do more to ensure that young people can develop and demonstrate these capabilities as they prepare for future employment.
HP Calls for Changes to Education Systems
The report argues that traditional approaches to education need to evolve to reflect the changing demands of the workplace.
While literacy and numeracy should remain fundamental to learning, it recommends greater use of creative and practical teaching methods to help students apply their knowledge, solve problems and develop skills beyond academic examinations.
It also highlights the importance of supporting teachers, who play a central role in helping students develop these capabilities.
HP said educators, policymakers and employers must work together to prepare young people for the opportunities and challenges they will encounter throughout their education and working lives.
David McQuarrie, HP’s Chief Commercial Officer and Chair of HP Futures, said the responsibility had become increasingly important as artificial intelligence transformed learning and employment.
He said education systems needed to help students develop, demonstrate and continuously strengthen capabilities that would remain valuable regardless of how technology evolved.
Report Highlights Four Important Skills
The HP Futures 2026 report identifies four key capabilities that education systems should prioritise.
These include creativity, which enables students to generate ideas and develop new approaches to problems; critical thinking, which helps them assess information and make informed decisions; communication, which supports the effective exchange of ideas; and collaboration, which allows individuals to work productively with others.
The report argues that these skills should form part of formal education rather than remain secondary to traditional academic learning.
As AI tools become increasingly capable of performing certain tasks, the ability to evaluate information, exercise judgement, communicate effectively and work with others will remain important across different professions.
The recommendations do not suggest that technical knowledge or digital literacy should be abandoned. Rather, they highlight the need to combine academic foundations and technological understanding with broader human capabilities.
Concerns Over Inequality in Access to AI Education
The report also raises concerns about unequal access to learning opportunities, particularly for students in public schools and communities with limited educational resources.
It recommends designing skills-development programmes that take the realities of underfunded education systems into account.
Among the proposed approaches are teacher-supported AI tools, low-bandwidth learning platforms and predictable technology costs.
These measures are intended to make AI-supported education more accessible and prevent existing inequalities from becoming more pronounced as technology becomes increasingly important in schools and workplaces.
The report also stresses that students should have a voice in shaping curricula designed to develop the skills they will need in the future.
HP Recommends Recognised Assessment of Students’ Skills
Another issue identified in the report is the difficulty of assessing and formally recognising transferable skills.
Unlike conventional academic subjects, capabilities such as creativity, communication and collaboration can be more difficult to measure using traditional examinations.
The report therefore recommends standardised assessment pathways that would allow universities and employers to evaluate students’ abilities against recognised benchmarks.
It also proposes interoperable, internationally recognised credentials that could help students demonstrate their skills across educational institutions and national borders.
Mayank Dhingra, HP’s Director and Global Head of Education Business and Strategy, said education models should formally recognise durable skills and provide students with credentials that higher education institutions and employers could understand and assess.
He also warned against allowing unequal access to AI and differences in students’ ability to demonstrate their capabilities to reinforce existing inequalities.
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Findings Draw on Students Across 37 Countries
The HP Futures 2026 report was informed by an online survey conducted between May and June 2026, which received 6,206 responses from students across 37 countries.
The questionnaire was made available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia, Italian and Arabic.
Respondents ranged from below 12 to over 25 years of age, with 88 per cent of those who disclosed their ages falling between 12 and 17.
The findings were also informed by roundtable discussions, individual interviews with 58 education experts, policymakers and future-of-work leaders, as well as case studies involving schools, universities, employers, non-governmental organisations and public education systems.
The report calls on policymakers and education leaders in Nigeria and other countries to review its findings when developing education systems capable of preparing young people for a changing workplace.
For Nigeria, its recommendations place renewed attention on the need to strengthen the connection between classroom learning and the skills required in an increasingly technology-driven economy.
While the report does not announce a new Nigerian education policy, it presents recommendations for policymakers, educators and employers to consider as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the future of work.
Senior AI Writer
Bio: Okikiola is a writer and AI enthusiast with a background in Office Technology and Management. She later pursued an MSc in International Business at De Montfort University (DMU). With extensive experience in administrative and business roles, she now explores how artificial intelligence can transform work, innovation, and everyday life.