Today (20th), the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) signed the Memorandum of Understanding for Bilateral Skills Excellence Partnership with WorldSkills UK, aiming to join hands with WorldSkills UK to strengthen technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and achieve excellence in skills development.
The Ministry of Labor has been committed to reinforcing TVET and young talent cultivation. Chinese Taipei joined WorldSkills International (WSI) in 1970. Since then, Chinese Taipei has conducted regional and national skills competitions to select and send outstanding Competitors to WorldSkills Competitions. Through competitions, young people are encouraged to devote themselves to skills learning and expand their career paths. Meanwhile, they can bring back the latest international best practices in terms of skills, techniques and crafts to help bring industrial skills standards to the next level. Chinese Taipei has always scored high on WorldSkills Competitions. In 2019, Chinese Taipei ranked third in the Competition held by Russian in Kazan. In the same year, Chinese Taipei and WSI signed a Memorandum of Understanding and established the world’s second WorldSkills Capacity Building Centre (CBC). CBC Chinese Taipei proactively helps the Experts and Competitors from African, Central and Southern American and Asian countries enhance their skills. Together, Chinese Taipei and WSI will foster regional skills development through mutually beneficial approaches in the future.
WorldSkills UK, joining WSI in 1953, is one of the WorldSkills Europe Members and plays a crucial role in skills development in Europe. By referencing the model of WorldSkills CBC, WorldSkills UK established the Centre of Excellence in 2019. The Centre cooperated with partner institutes to mainstream innovation and excellence in TVET and help youth enhance skills and unlock potential.
The Director-General of WDA Shih Cheng-Yang stated that WorldSkills Chinese Taipei and WorldSkills UK have constant productive interactions at both WorldSkills Competitions and skills exchange activities. The MoU signed with WorldSkills UK covers information exchange on TVET system, standards and policies, including sharing best practices, experiences of Competitor training and expertise development of Experts. Ms. Shih added that signing the MoU is not the finish line, but the beginning. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, current exchange activities move online. Once the travel restrictions are lifted, Experts and Competitors will have more face-to-face exchanges with the UK to learn from each other and strive to reach excellence in skills development. For more information on international skills cooperation, please visit https://wsc.wda.gov.tw/