Record-breaking year for Team Wales as 148 competitors shortlisted for UK National Finals!

With the 2021 WorldSkills UK National Finals just around the corner, students from Team Wales, England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland will be battling it out to win the title of Skills Champions across 63 disciplines. Today, WorldSkillsUK announced the complete shortlist of competitors and we’re delighted to announce that it’s another record year for Wales!

148 competitors from Wales have been shortlisted for the competitions, which will see them go against students from all over the UK. Competitions will include subjects such as Forensic Science, Cyber Security and Foundation Restaurant Services. The number of competitors shortlisted for this year make up for over 30% of overall attendance and places Wales at the top of the table, completely leading the way against other competing regions.

This year’s competitions will be slightly different, with competitions held all over the UK for the first time. Three of the competitions will be held in Wales, with Cardiff and Vale College playing host to a selection of Automotive competitions, Gower College Swansea selected to host Industrial Electronics, and Coleg Cambria selected to host a selection of Engineering and Beauty Competitions. To accommodate some competitors, Foundation Skills competitions will be held remotely across a number of disciplines.

Paul Evans, Project Director for Inspiring Skills Excellence in Wales said,

“It’s a fantastic achievement for Wales to once again be leading the way at the UK National Finals and for us as a nation to position ourselves so strongly amongst other regions.

“This year’s competition in particular, will be a brand new, but an exciting opportunity for all involved and it’s fantastic that a UK-wide approach has now been adopted. This not only gives students an insight into other facilities across the UK, but a chance for us here in Wales to showcase three fantastic locations.

“I cannot wait to see how our competitors do – a huge congratulations to all finalists and an even bigger ‘good luck’!”

Competitions will run from 12-19th November 2021, with winners crowned at a special ceremony hosted by TV presenter Steph McGovern. Steph will be awarding competitors from her Packed Lunch studio on Friday 26th November. More details on this will follow over the coming weeks.

From all of the team at Inspiring Skills Excellence in Wales, we wish all competitors a massive good luck in their upcoming competitions and we can’t wait to celebrate your successes at the end of November.

On the night of the awards, you can follow all of the action via our dedicated social media channels:

Instagram: @ISEinWales

Twitter: @ISEinWales

A full list of shortlisted competitors from Wales are available below.