EuroSkills Gdansk to take place from 5-9 September
The UK is set to make a triumphant return to compete at EuroSkills, Europe’s largest skills event, this Autumn, which is taking place in Poland for the first time.
Team UK – which heads to the EuroSkills Finals in the Polish city of Gdansk from 5 – 9 September – will comprise of 20 elite apprentices and students skilled in a broad spectrum of disciplines from engineering to construction, digital to creative. Following success at last year’s international WorldSkills event, the UK will compete in Robot Systems Integration and Digital Construction for the first time at the European Competition.
Harry met Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, who was highly impressed by his achievements
Governments and industry will be watching with interest to benchmark how well Team UK performs compared to the country’s main European competitors. At the event, 600 skilled young professionals, under the age of 25, from 32 member countries including Germany, Switzerland and France will compete.
Over 100,000 spectators from across Poland and Europe are expected to attend this year’s finals, after the event faced disruption in recent years due to the pandemic.
Ben Blackledge, Interim Chief Executive, WorldSkills UK, which selects and trains Team UK to the highest international standard said: “The EuroSkills Finals provides a valuable mechanism for benchmarking the quality of skills. Through its competition-based assessment of young people’s skills against European industry standards, we can compare UK standards against those in the rest of Europe and importantly bring that international best practice back to the UK through the programmes we run at WorldSkills UK. This will be a life-enhancing opportunity for Harry Scolding and I wish him the best of luck. They and the rest of Team are the embodiment not only of the characteristics that we should aspire for in a young workforce, but for the UK Government’s ambitions for Global Britain too.”
Harry will be travelling to Poland in September to represent Team UK
Harry Scolding, Bench Joinery Apprentice at Solihull College & University Centre has been selected by WorldSkills UK to take part in Team UK and compete at EuroSkills Gdansk. He commented:
“After winning Gold at the SkillBuild National Finals, I am extremely proud to have now been selected to join Team UK and represent Worldskills UK and my country in the 2023 EuroSkills held in Poland. My apprenticeship journey has been remarkable from the start, but I now have my eyes set on the prize for EuroSkills and look forward to showcasing my skills in front of an international audience. I’m extremely grateful for the support I’ve received from all parties, but I have to give a special mention to my tutors Arron Ward, Martin Gregory, Tom the Technician and Nick Purdy from Solihull College & University Centre’s Construction Team for signing me up and encouraging me from the beginning and cheering me on from the sidelines.”
To secure a place in Team UK, the apprentices and students have been through an exhaustive selection process, taking part in the prestigious WorldSkills UK National Competitions. Following the European Finals, they will continue their training with WorldSkills UK with the aim of being selected for the WorldSkills Finals which take place in Lyon, France next year.
