Press Releases

 The Hong Kong delegation competed neck to neck with some 1,000 contestants in the 41^st WorldSkills Competition held in London, and walked away with 4 Medallions of Excellence in the trades of refrigeration and air-conditioning, beauty therapy, cooking and wall and floor tiling.
 
The 41^st WorldSkills Competition has just been held on 5 to 8 October. MAK Lok-him, member of the Hong Kong delegation, competed with 25 other refrigeration and air-conditioning contestants during the 4-day competition. His steady performance and composure in face of difficulties won him a good result and the title of the best competitor of the Hong Kong delegation. A graduate of the Craft Certificate in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration course offered by the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), Lok-him was delighted with the result and thanked the IVE teachers for their coaching and support. Apart from boosting confidence in his own abilities, the competition also enabled him to learn a lot from other contestants, which would go a long way into enhancing his skills in future.
 
CHUN Choi-ting was another awardee of the Medallion of Excellencein beauty therapy. It was a close fight among the contestants of the trade. Finally Choi-ting won the commendation of judges on the strength of her outstanding and cool-headed performance in the segments of facial, massage, hair removal and make-up. A graduate of the Higher Diploma in Health and Beauty Therapy course with the IVE, Choi-ting received long time training at the IVE and was arranged to practise at a professional beauty salon in preparation for the WorldSkills Competition. The good result achieved was testimony to her hard work. 
 
Derek SIT, graduate of the Certificate in Food Preparation (Western) - Raw Food Processing course of the Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre (HITDC), won the Medallion of Excellence in cooking. Currently working as a junior assistant chef, he obtained the support of his employer and spent almost a year to get prepared for the WorldSkills during which he received rigorous training from experts of the HITDC. He learnt the ropes of preparing different cuisines. With thorough preparation, Derekwas confident in the competition and was able to perform well even when he was required to prepare an impromptu dish.
 
LAM Tung-leung, graduate of the Construction Industry Council Training Academy, won the Medallion of Excellence in wall and floor tiling. Competitors of the trade were required to tile highly complex patterns like a UK flag, River Thames and the Clock Tower, where both their skills and attention to details were thoroughly tested. Not only was Tung-leungable to complete all the tasks within the set time, he also displayed consummate tiling techniques.
 
The biennial WorldSkills Competitions give the young contestants an opportunity to showcase their expertise with a view to promoting vocational education and training. The Competition also encourages exchanges among member countries and regions and young skilled people. This year, Hong Kong fielded 12 competitors for the WorldSkills London 2011 in events such as Cooking, Graphic Design Technology, IT Network Systems Administration, Offset Printing, Plumbing and Heating, Wall and Floor Tiling and Beauty Therapy to compete with young elites from more than 50 countries and regions. All the competitors were winners of the Hong Kong Youth Skills Competition jointly organised by the Vocational Training Council, the Clothing Industry Training Authority, the Construction Industry Council and the Industrial Centre of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. To date, the Hong Kong teams have altogether grabbed 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze Awards and 29 Medallions of Excellence. 
 
Established in 1982, the Vocational Training Council（VTC）is the largest vocational education, training and professional development group in Hong Kong with some 230,000 students and trainees each year. The mission of VTC is to provide a valued choice to school leavers and working adults to acquire the values, knowledge and skills for lifelong learning and enhanced employability, and also to provide valued supports to industries for their manpower development.   VTC has 13 member institutions including the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THE I), the Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge (PEAK), the School for Higher and Professional Education (SHAPE), the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), Pro-Act by VTC, Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre (HITDC), Chinese Cuisine Training Institute (CCTI), Maritime Services Training Institute (MSTI), Youth College, Integrated Vocational Development Centre (IVDC), Yeo Chei Man Senior Secondary School and Shine Skills Centre.