WorldSkills - "World Apprentice Championships" to be Held in Austria
The 46th WorldSkills was scheduled to be held in Shanghai, China, from October 12-17, but had to be canceled due to the month-long covid-related lockdown. WorldSkills 2022 SpecialEdition is now spread over 15 host countries, including Austria, and will be held in Salzburg.
For Austria, 44 participants will attend this year's competition in Salzburg. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Pemolo [CC BY-SA 3.0 at (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/at/deed.en)]
From November 17 to 20, apprentices from all over the world will compete in 7 events at the Messezentrum Salzburg.
In this competition, apprentices can measure their skills internationally and thereby improve them. The main focus is not only the competition but also the international exchange with other apprentices from other countries.
Chris Humphries, President and Chair of the Board of WorldSkills stressed that WorldSkills Competitions have a "positive impact showcasing and motivating more young people to develop their technical and vocational skills." For him, Worlskills provides a "once-in-a-lifetime experience for Competitors and benchmarking for Members."
However, for the first time, the competitions will be held in several countries - as WorldSkills 2022 Special Edition.
The WorldSkills member countries and the global partners of WorldSkills International have been working on an alternative WorldSkills Competition 2022 for the WS22 participants already in training.
Because WorldSkills 2022 in Shanghai could not take place due to covid lockdowns, the 85 participating countries divided the competition among 15 host countries.
In addition to Austria, these will be Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
According to Austrian Minister of Labor Martin Kocher, Austria is remarkable because the country "has a very good training system in international comparison and enjoys great recognition worldwide, especially for the dual training." The Minister of Labor stressed that some months ago Austria was able to sign an agreement to strengthen cooperation in the field of apprenticeships with the United States. Minister Martin Kocher expressed therefore that the federal government will do "everything it can with measures to continue to shape the framework conditions for apprenticeship training in Austria in the best possible way and thus expand Austria's pioneering role in this area."
The Austrian candidates, who have qualified as the best in their field, will compete with around 1,200 colleagues from all over the world and demonstrate their skills. According to the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce (WKO), international participants from around 40 WorldSkills member countries are expected in Salzburg itself.
According to State Secretary for Youth Claudia Plakolm, Austrian apprentices "regularly have a better medal record at international competitions than Austria does at the Olympic Games." According to Plakolm WorldSkills in Salzburg sends important signals that the education model of apprenticeship is not a "plan B if things don't work out at school, but must be plan A for the best-skilled workers of tomorrow."
In WorldSkills 2019 Austria has won 12 medals. For Austria, 44 participants will attend this year's competition. There will be competitions in Austria this fall for apprentices in concrete construction, structural engineering, electrical engineering, plant electrics, freight forwarding logistics, heavy vehicle technology, and chemical laboratory technology.
Federal Chancellery of Austria