Bid for 'skills Olympics' posted

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 30 Mar 2006 14:55

Skills Minister Phil Hope put the seal on the UK’s bid to host the 2011 ‘skills Olympics’, by formally posting the bid from the House of Commons Post Office this week to David Hoey, Worldskills secretary general in the Netherlands.

WorldSkills is the largest skills competition in the world with around 700 young people from over 40 different countries competing in the biennial event. The young people compete for medals in almost 40 skill areas, including a number in manufacturing.

Hope said: "An event on this scale in the UK will generate huge excitement and media interest in skills. WorldSkills will help us benchmark our performance against the best in the world and cement lasting partnerships between government and business. By attracting sponsorship from UK firms it will boost the levels of employer investment in skills and raise aspirations across the country, improving the supply and demand for world class skills permanently.”

The bid document details the UK’s vision for hosting the WorldSkills Competition in London one year before the Olympics. If the bid is successful, the competition will be hosted at ExCeL London, in Docklands, already earmarked as one of the venues for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Graeme Hall, chief executive of UK Skills, the agency responsible for spearheading the UK bid, said: “It takes a great deal of time and effort to learn a vocational skill, and even more to excel at that skill. Yet skills do not enjoy the same public recognition as either GCSE’s or A Levels. Hosting the WorldSkills competition in the UK will showcase skills in a way that has never been possible before, giving them the recognition they so deserve”.

The decision on which city will host the 2011 competition will be made by delegates from the member nations of the WorldSkills organisation and formally announced on May 10th , in Melbourne, Australia, at the WorldSkills annual general meeting. The UK is bidding against Gothenburg (Sweden), Melbourne (Australia) and Nantes (France).

The UK has secured funding for the London bid for WorldSkills 2011 through sponsorship from the industry and skills partners and the Government has committed to matching these funds and underwriting the overall costs associated with hosting the event (cost estimated to be approximately £22.2 million at current prices).

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