Dutch VET students participate in Finnish skills competitions

By Skills Netherlands

Sunday afternoon April 25, nine junior Dutch VET (Vocational Education and Training) students and four VET students will leave for Oulu, Finland to participate in the Finnish national skills competition named Taitaja.This is the first time that junior Dutch VET students have participated in an international skills competition.

Invited by Skills Finland, organiser of Taitaja, the junior Dutch VET students will compete against young people from all over the world from April 27-29. The VET students participate in Refrigeration, Caring and Electrical Installations. Altogether 350 young skilled people will compete in more than 40 skills.

By participating in skills competitions the Dutch students learn a lot from their international colleagues. The participating VET students also use international skills competitions to train for the EuroSkills Competition, which will be held in Lisbon in December 2010.

Internationalising vocational education
Skills Netherlands organises the participation, in cooperation with OTIB, Calibris, VO Raad and SPV, and is supported by the Dutch Ministery of Education (OCW). Both Skills Netherlands  and the Ministry of Education aim to stimulate internationalisation of vocational education. Skills Netherlands organises various projects to promote vocational education, including the Dutch national skills event, Skills Masters.

Check www.vakwedstrijden.nl for more news about Skills Netherlands.