EuroSkills 2008, a Europe-wide competition in vocational education & training organised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands was a great success. The 420 candidates from the 29 participating European countries finished their three days of competition on Saturday, September 20th.

The EuroSkills competitions were conducted in six different domains which all had their share of winners.

A new breed of Skillaroos were unveiled today (6th of November) as the WorldSkills Australia spotlight well and truly moved to the 40th WorldSkills Competition to be held in Calgary, Canada in September 2009. The 2009 Team Australia Skillaroos were officially announced at the Official Team Launch held at Doltone House, Sydney marking the commencement of preparations for the team as they aim to build on the success of past Australian teams – in particular the 2007 Skillaroos.

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Congratulations to the 2009 Tool Blacks! We at WorldSkills New Zealand believe we have selected a top-class team who will all perform well at the WorldSkills International Competition. This year there is a very good spread of competitors from across the country, with a good number from "the Mainland".

Now the hard work begins as we embark on the road towards Calgary. Competitors will undertake specific training in their skill, under the guidance of their Skill Expert. I hope to have two training camps with one in Christchurch to allow for a visit to CPIT to scope the venue for 2010, and the second a few weeks prior to our departure for a final briefing, team photos, etc.

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WorldSkills International is delighted to announce the launch of an innovative and accessible new approach to skills videos - WorldSkills TV.

WorldSkills TV is comprised of a comprehensive selection of skills-related short videos which are available for download and use by all skills stakeholders.

Richard Walker, CEO of WorldSkills Calgary 2009 was delighted with his team's trip to Austria's capital, Vienna, for the WorldSkills General Assembly 2008.

"The 2008 WorldSkills International General Assembly in Vienna was extraordinarily important for us", said Richard Walker. "We were able to present our plans, packages and preparations to the Delegates and answer any and all questions they had."

Michael Hourihan from Ireland and Linda Algarve from Norway compare their impressions as judges at The Swedish Skills Championships in Jönköping.

www.youthskillssweden.com

It wasn't the Oscars, but it could have been when WorldSkills honoured Anders Plesner for his many years of service for WorldSkills. First serving as a Technical Delegate for Sweden at Seoul 2001, Anders Plesner has made an invaluable contribution to both WorldSkills International and Youth Skills Sweden. He was presented an honorary title and will remain an asset to the organisation.

www.youthskillssweden.com

Only a month ago the country was celebrating the success of Team GB in Beijing, but now another UK team has picked up medals in an international competition. A team of 16 young people achieved eight gold medals at the first ever EuroSkills, a three day competition in skills ranging from farriery to cleaning.

EuroSkills is a new, pan-European, skills competition which was this year held from 18th-20th September in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Watched by around 40,000 spectators, the 400 competitors from 29 countries competed in 25 different competitions covering 49 different vocational skills.

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EuroSkills 2008 Tremendous Success

The first edition of EuroSkills in Ahoy Rotterdam has been a tremendous success. From 18–20 September almost 27.000 youths visited the largest vocational event of Europe to learn about many trades and educations that can be followed in vocational education. In the meantime they supported 415 international candidates. With this newsletter we would like to inform you about results of participants, events and success stories of EuroSkills 2008.

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September has been an extremely busy month for the team at WorldSkills Australia with perhaps the most important task being the thorough evaluation of the National competition medalists with a view to selection of the Team Australia Skillaroos for the 40th WorldSkills Competition in Calgary, Canada next year. September also marked the ‘1 year to go’ milestone for the competition in Canada and following the confirmation of competition categories by WorldSkills International, WorldSkills Australia is now in a position to select our team. An official announcement will be made on the 6th of November.

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It was the first time ever that a meeting of European apprentices in such a scale was organised.

As France currently holds the presidency of the European Union, numerous French ministers joined the 12.000 young apprentices from 20 European countries and gathered at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy.

The meeting was impressive, and was held under the dominant theme of exchanges between European countries, between cultures, experiences and talents.

WorldSkills International is pleased to welcome a new Member to the family. WorldSkills International’s newest Official Delegate Julia Gutierrez de Piñeres and Technical Delegate Mariana Saker of Colombia attended our General Assembly in Vienna, where SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) Colombia was welcomed as WorldSkills International’s 50th Member.

WSI look forward to working with SENA in the future.

For more information, please visit: www.sena.edu.co
View Colombia's presentation to the General Assembly.
View an interview with Colombia's Official Delegate. 

Today was the Opening Ceremony for EuroSkills 2008 at Ahoy Rotterdam, The Netherlands. More than 400 competitors from 28 European countries (20 are WorldSkills International Members) are ready to showcase their skills in 49 different skill categories. The Ceremony highlighted the competitors, the partners and the passion among all those involved. With a new song written especially for EuroSkills, the audience and competitors danced and cheered as the energy continued to fill the night. With the preparations for the competition complete and the competitors getting ready for Day 1 of EuroSkills, the city of Rotterdam welcomed the delegates with amazing Dutch hospitality. Day 1 of the competition will  soon be here and spectators can look forward to exciting skills competitions, innovative and traditional trades, and new demonstrations of skills. There will be a combination of individual and team skills where the competitors strive to become the best of EuroSkills throughout the 3 days of competition. The Closing Ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 20, 2008.

visit www.euroskills2008.eu

The WorldSkills Youth Forum 2008 has now finished. It has been four hectic days with lots of constructive discussions about the future of the WorldSkills movement seen through the eyes of past Champions.

The YF ended with a very high-tech presentation given to the General Assembly on September 11, 2008, who couldn’t wait to get out of their seats to congratulate the 34 participants, rewarding their hard work with a standing ovation. WorldSkills International would like to thank Skills Austria for hosting the second Youth Forum, it has been a fantastic experience.

 2008 Youth Forum Report

During Day 1 of the WorldSkills Youth Forum 2008, the Delegates did all sorts of activities including networking and team building. They got to know each other and more about the WorldSkills movement. In the afternoon the WorldSkills Executive Board came to visit the Delegates and share their vision for the next few days. After mingling and learning from each other, the Executive Board and the Youth Delegates made their way to the grand Vienna City Hall located in beautiful downtown. They were graciously hosted by the City for an evening of fine dining and entertainment.

Reykjavík, Iceland

The Icelandic National Youth Skills Competition was held on April 18-19, 2008. This was the fourth National Youth Skills Competition held in Iceland. This year’s competition saw several significant changes, including organisational changes, new skill categories and a longer competition. The competition received considerable media attention and attendance was very good.

The very first national skills competitions in Mexico held on May 28-31 were a great success. The competitions, held in various venues in Mexico City, included a wide range of skills from Jewellery to Mechatronics and Electrical Wiring. Mrs. Genny Gongora, the Official Delegate (OD) to WorldSkills International (WSI) who has been the enthusiastic initiator of Mexico’s Membership in WSI, remarked that the competitions branded as “WorldSkills Mexico 2008” generated a lot of enthusiasm and publicity about skills training. 

Jack Dusseldorp (President of WorldSkills International) and Richard Walker (President and CEO of WorldSkills Calgary 2009) viewing the Australian National Competition, discussing skills competitions and extending a welcome to everyone worldwide to come to the 40th WorldSkills Competition in Calgary, Canada in September 2009. Click on 'Read more' for larger viewing and link to all videos from Australian National Competition.

When WorldSkills International promised its Champions an exchange program that would open doors to first-class employers, the forward-thinking Human Resources department at Dynamate saw a unique opportunity. Lured by the chance for their staff to work with, and learn from, some of the world’s best skilled young people, Dynamate quickly extended an invitation to WorldSkills Champions into its manufacturing plants.