The Coursera Podcast

Coursera

The Coursera Podcast introduces you to renowned experts and industry leaders to explore global trends impacting the future of education and work. Alongside host Arunav Sinha, you'll discover cutting-edge ideas that will empower you to advance your career, transform your teams, and drive positive change within your organization.

  1. Oct 28

    Connecting Education to Opportunity with Paraguay’s Ministry of Education and Sciences

    Preparing young people for the future of work takes more than access to technology. They also need relevant skills, exposure to different career paths, and opportunities to apply what they learn. In this episode of The Coursera Podcast, Luis Fernando Ramírez, Minister of Education and Sciences of Paraguay, joins André Almeida, Vice President of Sales for Latin America at Coursera and Udemy, to discuss Jóvenes Conectados, a national initiative that brings together government, educators, employers, telecommunications companies, and Coursera to create new pathways for young people. Minister Ramírez shares what Paraguay has learned as the program has grown, including the strong demand for communication and other human skills and the value of letting students learn at their own pace. He also discusses how public-private partnerships can expand access, how digital learning can help education systems respond more quickly to changing workforce needs, and why confidence and a sense of purpose matter alongside job-ready skills. This interview is conducted in Spanish, with an English introduction and conclusion from Coursera’s Anthony Salcito. We also cover: 🧠 Why critical thinking is becoming more important for young people 🤝 How public-private partnerships helped Paraguay move faster 🎓 What students’ choices reveal about how they want to learn 💼 Why digital learning works best alongside real-world experience 📱 How telecommunications partners are helping expand access 📊 How learning data can help education systems adapt more quickly 🌱 Why confidence and purpose are important measures of impact If you’re interested in how governments, education systems, and organizations are using online learning to expand access to job-relevant skills, explore learning programs and resources on Coursera.org.

  2. Sep 25

    Why AI Transformation Is Really Organizational Change with Nitin Mathur

    AI is moving routine work closer to the front lines of organizations, which means companies have to rethink who makes decisions, how teams are structured, and what people need to learn. In this episode of The Coursera Podcast, Arunav Sinha speaks with Nitin Mathur, a global marketing and digital transformation leader, about the organizational impact of AI. Nitin explains why leaders often see AI as a productivity tool when it is also changing where decision-making happens across a company. They discuss why many AI pilots never move beyond experimentation, how companies can redesign roles and workflows, and why judgment may become more valuable than knowledge of any particular tool. Nitin also shares his perspective on deciding what to develop internally versus what to hire for, and how marketing teams can balance fast, AI-enabled work with the slower work of strategy, brand building, and creative judgment. We also cover: 🧠 Why AI is changing where decisions get made ⚙️ What makes it difficult to scale AI across an organization 🪜 Why companies may need to hire for judgment and develop technical skills 🏢 How marketing teams can rethink their operating models 💬 How brands can stay distinctive when everyone has access to similar tools 🛡️ Why trust, customer insight, and human judgment still matter +++ If you’re interested in building skills in AI, marketing, leadership, or digital transformation, you can explore courses, Professional Certificates, and learning programs on Coursera.org.

  3. Jul 15

    Scaling AI Across the Workforce with Bausch + Lomb

    Bausch + Lomb is bringing AI into the daily rhythms of a 170-year-old global eye health company, from how employees learn new skills to how teams rethink routine work. In this episode of The Coursera Podcast, Anthony Salcito sits down with Devang Modi, COO and Chief AI Officer at Bausch + Lomb, about the company's approach to building AI fluency across its workforce. Devang shares how the Bausch + Lomb AI Academy, launched in partnership with Coursera, is helping roughly 8,000 knowledge workers build foundational AI skills. The program is mandatory, tied to performance, and designed to move employees from basic awareness to everyday application. The conversation gets practical fast: what Bausch + Lomb learned from early Copilot usage, how employees improved the quality of their prompts, why practice matters, and how teams are finding use cases in reporting, research, content development, reconciliation, and other work that can eat up valuable time. Devang also explains why scaling AI is as much a change-management challenge as a technology challenge. He discusses the role of leadership, governance, verification, human judgment, and employee-led sharing in building the trust needed to use AI responsibly at scale. We also cover: 🧠 Why AI fluency depends on repetition, role-specific examples, and real work 🏢 How Bausch + Lomb is embedding AI into a company with 170 years of history 📈 What the company is learning from 300+ employee-shared AI use cases and 40,000+ hours saved 🛡️ How guardrails, verification, and human judgment help teams move faster without losing control 🚀 Why the next leap is redesigning workflows around AI instead of layering AI onto existing tasks +++ If you'd like to explore AI and digital transformation learning programs that help teams build practical AI skills, you can find them on Coursera.org.

  4. 11/19/2025

    Redefining Career Readiness with Texas A&M

    In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Shonda Gibson and Dr. Mary Liz Brooks to explore how the Texas A&M University System is preparing students for a rapidly changing job market. Across its 11 campuses, Texas A&M is embedding industry-aligned credentials into degree programs to bridge academic learning and workforce needs—at scale. Shonda, who leads academic transformation for the entire system, shares how a community-of-practice model has driven adoption from the ground up, allowing each campus to tailor implementation while staying aligned to a shared vision. Mary Liz brings the classroom perspective, highlighting how students are engaging with Coursera’s Career Academy to build confidence, gain real-world skills, and shape their professional identities—before graduation. This conversation offers a powerful look at what’s possible when system-level innovation meets faculty-led experimentation, and how higher education can support student success far beyond the classroom. We also cover: 🎓 What “career readiness” means in the age of automation and AI 🔧 How Texas A&M embedded Career Academy directly into curriculum 📊 The impact of over 20,000 learning hours and 4,700+ course completions 🌍 Strategies for equity and access across rural and urban campuses 🧩 What public universities can do to rethink ROI and lifelong learning +++ Explore Coursera Career Academy and learn how institutions are embedding real-world learning into their degree programs: coursera.org/campus

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About

The Coursera Podcast introduces you to renowned experts and industry leaders to explore global trends impacting the future of education and work. Alongside host Arunav Sinha, you'll discover cutting-edge ideas that will empower you to advance your career, transform your teams, and drive positive change within your organization.