Opinions & Interviews
Opinion: WorldSkills helps keep up with latest trends in vocational training
MINSK, 12 August (BelTA) - Participation in WorldSkills gives Belarus the opportunity to demonstrate achievements in vocational training and learn from the best practices of other countries, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko said at a ceremony to see off Team Belarus for the 45th WorldSkills Competition in Kazan, Russia, BelTA has learned.
“Belarus pays a lot of attention to training of professionals. It is the foundation for our economy. Therefore, it is important for us to assimilate advanced practices. We fit our educational institutions with new equipment, assimilate information technology so that we could keep pace with the world’s leaders. It is also important to demonstrate and compare the level of the domestic vocational training with the international trends. One of the ways is WorldSkills. This is an opportunity to showcase our best practices and achievements and see what others have so that we could fine-tune our vocational curricula, including those of 47 structural resource centers,” Igor Petrishenko said.
He wished the participants success and reminded that their task is to gain new knowledge and to show that Belarus is a country with high professional potential not only in the field of higher education but also vocational training.
WorldSkills is an international non-profit movement, which aims to increase the prestige of blue-collar occupations and develop vocational training through the harmonization of best practices and occupational standards across the world by organizing and holding skills excellence competitions in each country and globally. Participants are young people under 22 (24 in some skills).
Belarus acceded to the WorldSkills International in 2014. Since then the country has held three national competitions of professional skill (in 2014, 2016, 2018, respectively) and taken part in two world championships: in Sao Paulo (Brazil, 2015) and Abu Dhabi (U.A.E., 2017) and several regional competitions.
The event in Kazan will feature more than 1,500 participants from 63 countries. Belarus will field 40 contestants (36 in 33 skills of WorldSkills, 4 in skills of JuniorSkills. Belarus will be also featured in the three new competences of the Future Skills Zone - quantum technology, industrial design and building information modeling (BIM).
All in all, the team will be composed of 83 people, including participants, experts, interpretors, officials. Team Belarus is made of the winners of the third national competition of professional skills WorldSkills Belarus 2018. During the year the contestants were preparing for the World Championships, underwent intensive training and internships, including in foreign countries.
“The process of preparation was very exciting. We learned tonnes of new things. What first seemed difficult and unattainable is a reason for excitement today. Using software tools we create complex models right on the spot. It would be cool to bring more new technologies to Belarus, new knowledge that will be useful for the country,” captain of WorldSkills Team Belarus Dmitry Gruk said. The young man is confident of his abilities (he will compete in CNC Turning) but also of the success of the team. After graduating from the Polytechnic College in Borisov he stayed with the college to work there as department head and knows how to find common ground with aspiring competitors regardless of the skills.
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