The World Skills UK competition, organised by Barking and Dagenham College, brought together students and tutors from eight colleges across London and south Essex to meet employers and industry leaders.
It aims to tackle London’s skills gap by showing how vocational education is needed by industry in key sectors such as construction, engineering, hospitality, healthcare, science and digital.
London deputy mayor Howard Dawber opened the competition at Willesden’s College of North West London, where students on electrical and plumbing courses were competing.
“These events help our targets for a skilled workforce,” he said. “They bring together employers, educators and students to build a more prosperous London.”
More than six out of ten businesses experience a lack of qualified workers, a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce and the Open University has revealed.
Competition organizer Jason Turton, deputy principal at Barking and Dagenham College, said: “The announcement by the chancellor about £600million investment in construction training reinforces the urgent need to address the critical shortages of skills through technical education.
“This competition shows what’s possible when education and industry work together.”
The engineering contest, staged at Barking and Dagenham’s Rush Green campus, used special software with reverse-engineering to create a detailed 3D model, where students had to design and assemble a virtual Lego figure.
The winner was Alan Oleksiewicz, a 17-year-old from Chigwell, who admitted afterwards: “It was nervewracking — but a brilliant opportunity to challenge yourself.”
The colleges taking part in the World Skills UK competition were Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Newham Sixth Form in East Ham, Barnet and Southgate, Waltham Forest in Walthamstow, North West London in Willesden, Capital City in Holloway and South Essex in Grays.
They have 100,000 students between them, running courses to help the London Growth plan that aims to expand the skilled workforce in key sectors.
