WorldSkills Europe General Assembly held in Helsinki

The General Assembly of the WorldSkills Europe and related events was organised in Helsinki 18 - 21 May. The gathering takes place once a year in one of the member states of the organization. This was the first time that the venue was in Finland. Skills Finland held the meeting together with the Secretariat of WorldSkills Europe, and was helped in the practical arrangements by students from Porvoo Vocational College, or Amisto. Taking part in the meeting were official and technical delegates of the member states, as well as communications officers.

New President and a new strategy

The biggest decision was undoubtedly the replacement of the long-standing President of WorldSkills Europe. The work of Jos de Goey of Skills Netherlands will be carried on by Hubert Romer of WorldSkills Germany. Jos de Goey is stepping down from the board, but will continue to work in the organization, organizing and supporting the work of the secretariat, and helping Hubert Romer in his new task as President.

Discussions at the meeting centred on the coming strategy of the organization and on the development of the actual competitions. Also, the application process for the EuroSkills 2020 competition was launched.

At this year's competition, specifically the development of competitions raised a considerable amount of discussion. During the week consideration was given to how they might be made to work better, how the quality might be improved, and how they could be made to better correspond to the world of work and to be more interesting to the public at large.

Next time in Goethenburg

The next WorldSkills Europe General Assembly will be held in April 2016 in Gothenburg. The programme will include meetings of the Board of Directors, meetings of the strategy working group, the competition development committee, and communications managers, the General Assembly, as well as the Competition Preparation Week EuroSkills 2016.

The new Board of Directors of WorldSkills Europe is ready to work on strategy. In the picture are Jos de Goey (left), who stepped down from the Board of Directors, as well as Board members Paul McGuire, Dinos Kathijotis, Guillaume Suteau, Tommy Hellström, Hubert Romer, Dita Traidas, Zsófia Csiszár and Teija Ripattila. Missing from the photo is Board member Francis Hourant.