Case Study
Worldskills Success
Belfast Met student, Balint Bogdan (21), who is studying electrical engineering is part of the competing team who jetted off to Sao Paulo for the competition which ran from 11th to 16th August 2015.
Balint took home the industrial electronics gold medal at Worldskills UK last year after three days of intensive exercises before an audience of 80,000 at Birmingham’s NEC against more than 100 contenders. He made it through to the final after being selected through a series of regional heats which were managed by engineering employer body Semta.
Balint who is originally from Hungary moved to Belfast three years ago to assist his parents’ move here and to help them settle in. He went on to say :“ When I first moved to Belfast it was hard and it was a challenge but now it is great and I would like to thank Belfast Met for all the help and support they provided for me”.
WorldSkills, the skills equivalent of the Olympics, is the largest international vocational skills competition in the world and will be held in Brazil from 11th to 16th August this year. Held every two years, the competition sees around 1,000 young people aged 18-25 from around the world come together to compete for medals in more than 45 different skills such as aircraft maintenance, IT network administration, welding, web design and mechanical engineering.
Derek Baker, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Employment and Learning, hosted a reception for the young hopefuls and said: “I know that you have all worked very hard over the last year and a half through the various selection stages. I would like to congratulate you on your dedication and commitment. I know it will stand you in very good stead in your future career.”
Northern Ireland members of the UK Team are competing in industrial electronics, electrical installation, car painting, landscape gardening, plumbing, refrigeration, and wall and floor tiling.
Mr Baker continued: “I would also like to thank your employers, lecturers and training managers who so willingly give up a great deal of their free time to share their expertise and work with you to ensure you are trained to world class standards. I wish you all the best of luck in Brazil.”
The UK Team of 41 young people will compete in 37 skill areas ranging from stonemasonry and carpentry through to cooking and beauty therapy.