WorldSkills Norway National Competition was a success!

WorldSkills Norway has just wrapped up their fifth Nationals Skills Competition, in Trondheim, one of the largest and oldest cities in Norway. It was the most successful National Competition ever held in Norway, both with regards to the quality of the competitions, the side events and the number of participants. More than 340 students and apprentices competed in 27 different skills, and more than 26,000 visited the event.

The side events during the Competition included demonstrations of other skills, “Try-a-Skill” for visitors, as well as conferences and seminars that were focused on Vocational Education and Training. The most visited seminar was with Marco Elsafadi, a famous athlete in Norway. He is the coach for Team Norway, five-time Norwegian Champion in basketball and winner of Norway’s “Masters Champion" this year.

Elsafadi has a lot of experience in working with young people and he inspired the young ones to dare to choose their own education path, to be inclusive and to be good team members. More than 2,000 came to his seminar every day - many of them leaving the seminar with tears in their eyes, including many teachers that listened to him several times!

The social partners arranged seminars with politicians and people from industry. They focused on the great need for more young people to choose vocational education. If the situation does not change, Norway will lack 90,000 skilled people by 2035! The message from the industry, the politicians, and the trade organizations was: choose Vocational Education and Training for a secure future career and opportunities for further education.