Northern Ireland is to get a world-class skills boost thanks to a revolutionary scheme aimed at attracting inward investment and generating economic growth.
Unique insights and expertise, gathered during decades of competing against and now collaborating with, world-class skills organisations in countries such as Japan, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan, are to be cascaded to six Northern Ireland colleges to bring substantial benefits to learners.
The six colleges are among the leading FE institutions across the UK which have been selected to join the skills revolution by becoming part of WorldSkills UK’s Centre of Excellence.
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The Centre of Excellence from WorldSkills UK, in association with NCFE, is the brainchild of Belfast-born Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, a former Deputy Director General of the CBI.
More than 40,000 young people, from all socio-economic groups, are being armed with world-class skills in the pioneering project.
The three-year pilot project, which began last September, is already impacting more than 20 educational institutions and nearly 1,000 educators across the UK. The programme will see educators across the province receive exclusive training with over 60 hours of intensive Continual Personal Development.
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The programme covers three strands: train the trainer modules; real time harnessing of international industry best practice through current preparation for WorldSkills Shanghai 2022; and influencing setters of training standards.
Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, CEO of WorldSkills UK, who was born and bred in Belfast said: “This is great news for Northern Ireland. In order to deliver the world class skills that employers demand to be internationally competitive, we need to invest in the educators that are training young people for the future. We are mainstreaming excellence in training standards and delivering it directly to tens of thousands of young students and apprentices at their places of learning which is key to boosting the economy by attracting inward investment and creating high quality jobs – and that is what we are delivering for the benefit of all.”
Source: Written from press release.
