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CAFRE Landscape Gardening Student Makes it into WorldSkills Team UK
- 26 March 2013
WorldSkills, the skills equivalent of the Olympics, is the largest international vocational skills competition and will be held in Leipzig in Germany from 4 to 7 July this year. Welcoming the announcement of Team UK, Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry said: "Northern Ireland's strong representation on Team UK is testament to the high standards of technical and professional training in our colleges. It is very telling that Northern Ireland, which accounts for less than 3% of the UK population, accounts for nearly 30% of Team UK."
WorldSkills is held every two years in cities around the globe and the competition sees around 1,000 young people, aged 18 – 25, come together to compete for medals in more than 40 different skills including Electrical Installation, Welding, Bricklaying, Cooking and Landscape Gardening.
Northern Ireland, with its nine competitors in the skills of wall and floor tiling, plastering and dry wall systems, joinery, carpentry, landscape gardening, autobody repair, car painting and mechatronics which is a two person competition, has the highest number of Team members of all the UK regions.
The Minister continued: "This is a great opportunity for these young people to demonstrate to the world that Northern Ireland has a workforce with the high levels of skills and training required to compete in the global economy and meet the economic challenges which lie ahead.
"To be selected for Team UK is an outstanding achievement and I wish each team member the best of luck with their training, and look forward to watching them take on the best in the world in July. Northern Ireland has a proud history of medal winners at WorldSkills and I am hopeful that this will continue at WorldSkills Leipzig."
The team of 31 young people, currently in employment, completing an Apprenticeship or studying, will now undertake an intense training programme in preparation for Leipzig in July. Team UK will compete in 30 skill areas ranging from Refrigeration and Air Conditioning through to Cooking.
Source: Northern Ireland Executive - NI Apprentices Dominate World Skills Team UK
