The UK team has come away from the world’s largest and most spectacular skills competition with an admirable total of 24 medals, including 4 golds.  They ranked 6th on the medals table at WorldSkills London, 5- 8 October 2011 after battling it out against more than 1000 fellow contestants, watched by 200,000 visitors.  This spectacular event provides the opportunity for the world’s best young craftspeople and professionals from the 51 member countries and regions to display their remarkable ability in a range of vocational skills - from aircraft engineering to visual merchandising.  

As well as a unique opportunity to see worldclass skills in action, the event also included a large exhibition with participants from the world of UK technical vocational education and training, a comprehensive programme of seminars and presentations for those working in the field of skills development across the globe, and delegate visits to colleges, training providers and employers.   British Council fully supports the WorldSkills movement and was actively involved with this prestigious event from its inception.   We worked in partnership with WorldSkills to promote participation in the competitions and offered a full programme of complementary activities, including conferences and seminars.

A group of young students from the Palestinian Territories attended the events as their prize for winning a British Council regional enterprise competition, and they were amazed to be able to take part in such a huge event staged to celebrate skills: Seventeen year old,  Islam Imad Zetawy, summed up the experience of many visitors and participants: ’In Palestine, people treat students who attend a technical college in a negative way – coming to WorldSkills made me realise that there is a lot to be proud of.’