Contestants from the Latvian team received 3 excellence medals in the world’s largest and most prestigious professional skills competition for young professionals WorldSkills 2019, which closed on August 27 in Kazan, Russia.
An excellence medal for showcase decoration was won by Luīze Mihailova, a graduate of the Liepaja Art and Design Secondary School, who showed the 4th best result in the competition among 15 countries. A medal for excellent performance in restaurant services went to Madara Miņina from Riga Tourism and Creative Industry Vocational School, who was the 6th in the competition among 33 countries, as well as was awarded the title Best of Nation for the best performance in the Latvian team. The third Latvian excellence team for cooking went to Nils Ģēvelea graduate of the Mālpils Vocational Secondary School, who showed the 18th best result in the competition among 46 countries.
Excellence medals went to the contestants, whose result was at least 700 points on a 799-point scale. Latvia is the 23rd by its total average score among 63 countries, leaving behind the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Belgium, the United States and other countries.
The leader of the Latvian team and the director of the State Education Development Agency (SEDA) Dita Traidās admits: “The Latvian team represented their country property in this fierce competition among 63 countries of the world confirming excellence of its professional skills and international competitiveness of the quality of our professional education. We are among the best of the world in three professions from seven, in which we participated. We have left behind a number of flagship countries, which is a high achievement.”
D.Traidās admits that to become the 4th and 6th in skill competitions of the world scale is a big achievement, and credit should be given to the strongest industries of the state. “Internationally recognised experts come from design, restaurant service and catering industries, who are ready to invest their time, knowledge and energy in young talents. We need more of such experts, and then medals will be ours,” concludes D.Traidās.
The Latvian team first participated in WorldSkills in 2011, and has not returned from this competition without an acknowledgement since 2013.
WorldSkills competitions have been organised since 1950, and this year the competition for young professionals, or the so-called Olympic Games in professions was held in Russia. More than 1300 excellent young professionals from 63 countries met in Kazan from August 22 to 27 to compete in 56 skills competitions.
The WorldSkills competition for young professionals takes place every other year alternating with the European professional skills competition EuroSkills. At present, there are 82 member states from all over the world in WorldSkills International. Only one institutions delegated by the state represents each member state in the organisation, and it is SEDA in Latvia.
The photo gallery of the final ceremony can be found here. You can learn more about the competition at SkillsLatvia Facebook page and on SEDA website in section WorldSkills.
Participation of the Latvian team in the competition WorldSkills 2019 is financed by the European Social Fund and co-financed by the Latvian state within the project “Career Support in General and Vocational Education Institutions”.