WorldSkills International is a membership organization like International Olympics Association with 80 member countries. It is registered in Netherlands as a not-for-profit organization. It started in 1947 in Spain. It is governed by a General Assembly where each member country has two delegates. WorldSkills International functions through a 8 member Board of Directors lead by President Simon Bartley of UK and a secretariat headed by CEO ÔÇô David Hoey.
World Skills Competition is the largest skill competition in the world, held once every two years in one of the WSI member countries. These competitions provide both a benchmark for high performance and an objective way to assess vocational excellence. Objective is to promote world class standards in over 50 skills under six skill strands as under:
- Construction and Building Technology
- Transportation and Logistics
- Manufacturing and Engineering Technology
- Information and Communication Technology
- Creative Arts and Fashion
- Social and Personal Services.
More than 1000 contestants below the age of 23, compete over a span of four days working on test projects (16-22 hours) which are based on contemporary industry standards and infrastructure. The competition is equivalent of Olympic Games for skills amongst youth across the world.
Each competitor is supported by a trainer (expert) and a partner which could be a corporate like Toyota, Tata Motors, Maruti, Mahindra, Aptech or training institution like NTTF, GTTI Coimbatore or association like CREDAI for trades such as bricklaying and tiling.
WorldSkills Competition 2022:
The WorldSkills Competition, a flagship event of the WorldSkills International, organised every two years, is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world that truly reflects global industry.
46th WorldSkills Competition 2022 was conducted from September to November 2022 across Europe, North America, and East Asia comprising of over 1,000 competitors from 58 countries in 61 skills. The competition was hosted by 15 countries in more than 20 cities.
WorldSkills India:
India participated in 50 Skills with 56 Competitors and 50 Experts. 19% Female representation - 10 competitors. Out of 50 skills, 6 skills are team Skills (2 Competitors) i.e Robot System Integration, Industry 4.0, Cyber Security, Mobile Robotics, Mechatronics and Concrete Construction Works. India also participated in 6 new future skills listed as under:
- Industry 4.0
- Robot System Integration
- Additive Manufacturing
- Renewable Energy
- Mobile Applications Development
- Digital Construction
