Victorian apprentices and trainees congratulated for making Australian WorldSkills team

Slightly over a third of the Australian team of young apprentices, trainees, and students competing in the upcoming WorldSkills 47th International Competition in France will be from Victoria, the state government has announced.

WorldSkills will be held in Lyon on September 10 – 15, with the theme “Where there is a skill, there is a way”. It is expected to involve 1,500 contestants from more than 65 countries and regions, across 62 skill competitions.

Twelve Victorians are among the Australian team of 33, the state government announced on Tuesday, and will “make up the largest Victorian contingent of Skillaroos since 1995 – which was also when the competition was last hosted in Lyon”.

“Congratulations to everyone selected for Team Australia at the WorldSkills 47th International Competition, and to the Victorian Skillaroos who will showcase their skills and represent our world-class vocational training system,” said Victorian skills minister Gayle Tierney.

The Victorian apprentices and trainees will compete in traditional skills like carpentry, heavy vehicle mechanics and plumbing, as well as newer disciplines including cloud computing, additive manufacturing and mechatronics.

They will have a final training exercise in May at the 2024 Global Skills Challenge in Victoria, to be held across various TAFE campuses in the state and be based on the conditions they will compete under at the Lyon events.

“Victoria is proud to host the Global Skills Challenge through our fantastic TAFE Victoria network, and to showcase Victorian TAFE and student excellence – I wish all the competitors the best of luck,” added Tierney.

Picture: a competitor from the 2019 WorldSkills event (credit WorldSkills/Flickr)