WorldSkills UK has announced over 400 students and apprentices who will be battling it out across 64 disciplines to be crowned national skills champions.
We are extremely proud to share that this includes UCW Applied Computing BSc student Jack Kimmins, who will be competing in the national Web Design finals, hosted by Weston College later this year.
Four FE learners from Weston College are also competing across different disciplines/subjects, including Oran Kendrew who is also competing in Web Design.
Following 2020 and a year without competitions, over 3,000 people registered to take part in the UK-wide competitions back in March.
The finalists will compete for gold, silver and bronze from 9-19 November, with the winners crowned at a ceremony hosted by TV presenter Steph McGovern from her Packed Lunch studio on Friday 26 November.
This year sees the finals taking place in locations across the UK for the first time. From the Industrial Robotics final in Ballymena, to Heavy Vehicle Engineering in Cardiff, Cyber Security in Lanarkshire and Web Design at Weston College, the 25 venues cover all four corners of the UK.
Ben Blackledge, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, WorldSkills UK said: “I want to offer my congratulations to all those that took part in our programme this year, especially the finalists. After a year without competitions due to the pandemic it was really encouraging to see so many people back involved this year.
“Our competitions and competition-based development programmes equip apprentices and students with the lifelong, world-class skills that will help increase UK productivity and competitiveness.
“We are really excited to be taking the show on the road this year with finals hosted by colleges, training providers and employers across the UK. We hope seeing the finals will inspire young people at those venues to keep developing their technical and employability skills and recognise what can be achieved by developing excellence through skills.”
The WorldSkills UK competition-based development programmes are designed by industry experts and enhance the practical skills and knowledge taught on training courses by assessing an individual’s employability attributes against set criteria in a competitive timed environment.
The programme has a real impact on those taking part, with 90% of previous entrants saying their career progression improved after competing and 86% stating their personal and employability skills had improved.
Click here to see the full details of the finals and the names of all finalists.
