Young people in the Capital Region are set to benefit from a radical new approach to delivering high-level skills following the induction of Cardiff and Vale College to the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence today (21st September).
Launched by WorldSkills UK in partnership with education and skills charity NCFE, the Centre of Excellence will embed world-class standards in skills development.
Parisa Shirazi, Head of Skills Development and International Competition at WorldSkills UK, said: “This is a milestone moment – a unique opportunity for Cardiff and Vale College to work with colleges across the UK and join the dawn of a skills revolution.
“Working with the staff at CAVC we will champion a skills-led recovery, which is driven by international benchmarking and rightly values high-quality apprenticeships and technical education to enable all young people to develop the employability skills that will provide them with a rewarding future.”
Using NCFE’s expertise in curriculum development and its insights into global skills systems through its membership of WorldSkills, the global hub for skills excellence, WorldSkills will coach and mentor staff at CAVC. This will enable the College to further entrench world-class practises and techniques in teaching, learning and assessment.
Consisting of 20 colleges across England, Scotland and Wales, the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence will also play in a role in supporting the development of higher technical standards across qualifications and assessment development.
CAVC has a long and distinguished history in WorldSkills. Students from across the College have taken part in national, European and world-wide heats of the competition, with students Kyle Woodward and Tom Lewis competing in the most recent WorldSkills finals in Russia.
Cardiff and Vale College Principal Kay Martin said: “We are committed to delivering excellence in our teaching and training programmes so we are delighted to be working with WorldSkills UK and NCFE.
“The WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence will enhance our teaching and curriculum innovation and provide our students with a world-class skills and mindset so that they and their employers will succeed.”