WorldSkills - local and global at the same time

By Tjerk Dusseldorp, President, WorldSkills International

Calmar Secondary School, with its motto that “every student is a winner”, is located in northern Alberta in the heart of the agricultural and oil field industries just southwest of the city of Edmonton.

Just a few days ago, the school received a shipment of machining equipment valued at CAD$100,000 as part of the Alberta Government’s CAD$14 million WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Equipment Legacy program.

Some of the ‘state of the art equipment’ that had been used by the best young skilled Champions from around the world at the 40th WorldSkills Competition will now provide students from the Calmar community with the same quality of equipment that is being used by post secondary students in the Province’s two Institutes of Technology.

The new equipment has already increased interest in the school’s machining program and will make for a smoother transition for any students moving on to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

This is just one vivid local example of the flow of benefits being created by the WorldSkills movement in its 52 Member countries/regions across the world.

Students from Calmar Secondary School also visited the Competition in Calgary, and some, undoubtedly, will go on to compete in the provincial and national skills events for the chance to represent Canada in future WorldSkills Competitions.

WorldSkills Calgary 2009, has been a tremendous catalyst for the promotion of skills as a means for young people to achieve their dreams of a worthwhile and rewarding career.

Multimedia students and professionals from around Calgary helped capture over 150 video stories of the Competition on WorldSkills TV with 416,000 views from 170 countries/regions. This was a first for WorldSkills International, and proved the combined power of skilled young people utilising the new media to get the WorldSkills stories out across the world.

I hope you to will keep in touch and help spread the word as the WorldSkills Competition moves to London in 2011! On behalf of WorldSkills International I wish you all the best in 2010 and I look forward to celebrating our 60th anniversary with all of you.