CodeSignal and Harvard Business Impact Bring Hands-On AI and Essential Skills Development to Universities Worldwide

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Sep 09, 2026, 08:00 ET

Harvard Business Impact expands its catalog with CodeSignal's practice-based AI literacy courses and new co-developed durable skills offerings to help close the gap between graduation and job readiness

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CodeSignal, the leading agentic skills intelligence platform, today announced a partnership with Harvard Business Impact, the global authority on business education and leadership development, to make practice-based skill building available to educational institutions worldwide.

CodeSignal and Harvard Business Impact Bring Hands-On AI and Essential Skills Development to Universities Worldwide

The partnership arrives as employers report a widening gap between how students are taught and what the AI-era workplace demands. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that 39% of workers' core skills will change by 2030, yet most students still graduate having read about these skills more than they have practiced them.

Through Harvard Business Impact's platform, educators can now bring CodeSignal's top AI fluency courses, plus co-developed Essential Skill courses into their classrooms, allowing students to practice each skill in realistic scenarios and get immediate, developmental feedback from CodeSignal's AI tutor, Cosmo.

Gaining practical AI skills through hands-on learning

Making CodeSignal's hands-on AI skills courses available in Harvard Business Impact's global catalog is a key component of this partnership. These courses go beyond explaining what generative AI is and put students to work with it, using real AI tools, writing effective prompts, and weighing the ethics of how AI is applied, so they graduate with the practical fluency employers now expect. The CodeSignal courses include:

Developing durable skills that can't be learned from a textbook

Technical ability is only part of workforce readiness. The durable skills that employers consistently rank hardest to find, from collaboration to integrity to navigating change, are also the hardest to learn from a textbook. As an additional part of the partnership, CodeSignal brings Harvard Business Impact's best-in-class learning material to life by turning traditionally abstract skills into hands-on online courses where students work through realistic workplace scenarios and get immediate, personalized feedback from Cosmo. The co-developed Essential Skills courses are part of Harvard Business Impact's newly launched Essential Skills Suites and include:

Bringing practice into the classroom

"Practice, feedback, and reflection give students a powerful way to develop skills they can apply beyond the classroom," said Nicole Harris, Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Growth Initiatives, Harvard Business Impact. "The CodeSignal platform gives students that opportunity in real time, with personalized AI-powered feedback. Pairing hands-on practice with the rich discussion and reflection inherent in the case method creates a powerful active learning experience—one that helps students build the capabilities they'll need in school, in their careers, and in life."

For CodeSignal, the partnership is a chance to give students opportunities for hands-on practice long before they reach the workplace.

"Most students don't get to practice these skills until they're already on the job," said Stéphanie Durand, VP, Strategic Partnerships, CodeSignal. "With Harvard Business Impact, we wanted to give today's students a solid place to start: real, hands-on practice completing tasks with AI and experiencing workplace scenarios that matter right now."

Educator testimonials on the value of hands-on learning

"Some students are actually getting very interested in AI and coding things I'm not even asking them about, because the [CodeSignal] platform is fun," said Dr. Andrea Martin, professor of practice of AI and business at Loyola University New Orleans.

"One of the wonderful things about CodeSignal and its skills assessment platform is it really brings some tools into the classroom and into the institution that it didn't have before," said Dr. Mary Papazian, former president of San Jose State University and senior education advisor for CodeSignal. "Students become empowered. Faculty become empowered. And this is good in terms of really creating the kind of graduates that employers are ready to hire."

Educators can assign these courses as homework, giving students a way to actively practice each concept through AI-powered exercises and get immediate feedback. Students can even bring up a real situation they are facing at school and receive personalized guidance from Cosmo on how to handle it. On successful completion, students earn a certificate of completion from Harvard Business Impact and CodeSignal.

CodeSignal and Harvard Business Impact plan to expand the catalog over time, adding more AI, technical, and essential skills courses for learners at every stage.

About CodeSignal

CodeSignal helps companies build the skills to succeed now, and adapt as the future of work changes. It's the agentic skills intelligence platform, built on a simple belief: the biggest decisions about people should rely on proof, not proxies. For years, talent has been judged by resumes, titles, self-ratings, and inferred data, sources that only hint at what someone can really do. CodeSignal measures real skills through rigorous simulation-based assessments and in-depth evaluation of people's actual work.

CodeSignal spans the full talent journey, from hiring assessments and AI interviews to hands-on skills development and workforce planning. With skills intelligence that measures work as it happens, leaders see where their teams stand, what to coach next, and where to plan ahead. It's why companies like Capital One, Meta, and Dropbox, along with millions of people building their own skills, have made CodeSignal the standard for measuring what's real.

To learn more, visit www.codesignal.com or connect with CodeSignal on LinkedIn.

About Harvard Business Impact

Harvard Business Impact helps educators around the world bring transformative learning experiences to their students, preparing them to navigate the complex challenges of the future. Rooted in active learning methodology, their course materials entice students to solve real-world business challenges and simulate the scenarios they will be facing in their work. Harvard Business Impact offers over 70,000 course materials, including case studies, simulations, articles, and online courses from more than 70 sources, along with teaching resources and guidance on how to teach with them.

Learn more at hbsp.harvard.edu.

SOURCE CodeSignal