Workshop manager meeting takes place for WorldSkills Competition

Ti Gong

A total of 167 workshop managers have been selected out of candidates from local vocational schools and enterprises to serve the 46th WorldSkills Competition, event organizers said at the workshop manager meeting during the Competition Preparation Week.

Workshop managers are backstage heroes who design and manage workshops during the competition. They are in charge of layout, infrastructure and all other things at the workshops to ensure each skill competition goes smoothly during the WorldSkills Competition. It requires not only knowledge of skills, but also communication and coordination skills, including English proficiency.

It's the first time the Chinese mainland has organized the WorldSkills Competition, which is the largest and highest-level vocational competition in the world and reflects the advanced level of vocational skills development, and recruiting and training of workshop managers is an important part of its efforts to make it a successful event.

Sun Xingwang, director of the Competition Organizing Department of WorldSkills Shanghai 2022, said the executive bureau started selection of workshop managers in April 2018, and 167 have been recruited from local vocational schools and enterprises after review and approval by WorldSkills International. These include 16 workshop sector manager.

Among them, 66 percent are from local universities and colleges, 19 percent from state-owned enterprises and the rest from industry associations, private enterprises and other institutions.

Sun said as of February 22, 1,604 competitors from 1,241 teams have registered for the WorldSkills Shanghai 2022, 28 competitors more and 20 teams less compared with the numbers in WorldSkills Kazan 2019. They come from 67 members of the WorldSkills community and five of them have registered for more than 50 skills.

Sun said the preliminary work for workshop managers included infrastructure lists and workshop layouts.

WorldSkills Shanghai 2022 will include 63 skills and involves 18,519 items and 940,637 pieces of infrastructure in total. So far, sponsors have promised to offer 57 percent of the items, while 40 percent will be rented or purchased and 3 percent will be borrowed from local vocational schools.

Together with workshop design teams, the managers have designed eight pavilions for the 63 skills based on their characteristics and technical requirements, said Sun.

As this year's preparation week has gone online, workshop managers have to meet online and offline with skills competition managers, sponsors and other stakeholders to check and confirm items on infrastructure lists, layout drawings of workshops, deployment of technicians and other issues to get approval from WorldSkills International and skills competition managers.

The specific meetings for skill competitions are so complicated that some started on January 20 and some will continue till May.

As of March 1, a total of 46 skills meetings have been organized, with checklists of 21 skills confirmed.

Sun said as a next step, the workshop managers will cooperate with workshop design and building teams to build up the workshops and install related equipment. They will also develop detailed plans to ensure smooth running of the workshops, guarantee supply of consumables and cope with emergencies.

Nine workshop managers were awarded during the meeting for their outstanding performance in the past year in training and preparing for the WorldSkills Competition.

Jane Stokie, director of Skills Competitions of WorldSkills International, thanked all the workshop managers and sector managers for their "dedication and focus to give young people from around the world for their once-in-a-lifetime experience they will remember forever."

"The success of the skills competition is the result of good planning and preparation," she said. "The power of work by workshop managers and sector managers is very evident in the fruitful discussions throughout the skill-by-skill CPW meetings that have already taken place. And I'm sure those yet to come will be following the same footsteps.

"There is still so much work to do by WSI, our members and sponsors, the skill management teams, various departments of the executive bureau and their partners, and of course you as the workshop managers. I want to empower you to keep going, keep your foot on the accelerator and make this your single biggest achievement in your professional career. Importantly, you are not only. Together, we will make every skill competition a success."

About WorldSkills Shanghai 2022

The 46th WorldSkills Competition, or WorldSkills Shanghai 2022, will take place in Shanghai on October 12-17. It will be the first time for the Chinese mainland to host the event that is the largest in the world and believed to reflect the most advanced development of skills.

A series of activities will be held during the competition, including the WorldSkills Conference and WorldSkills Expo.

The WorldSkills Museum, the first of its kind in the world, will officially open to the public as a permanent legacy of WorldSkills Shanghai 2022 to tell the unique story of WorldSkills International and the efforts it has made with its members to change the lives of people and societies around the world.