Poland agreed to organise EuroSkills 2023 after Russia’s Sankt Petersburg was stripped of its hosting rights following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine two months ago, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The venue for the prestigious contest will be announced in the coming weeks, with the western Polish city of Poznań and the northern port of Gdańsk vying for the privilege, officials said.
The event
Bringing together high-school and university students aged under 26 from across the continent, EuroSkills is designed to reward emerging masters in dozens of vocational disciplines, from graphic design to floor laying and fashion technology.
Accompanied by various fringe events, including seminars, exhibitions and conferences, the contest seeks to motivate young people to hone their work skills in close cooperation with employers, according to PAP.
Euroskills 2023 will be overseen by Poland’s Foundation for the Development of the Education System (FRSE), a non-profit organisation.
At the previous event, EuroSkills 2021, held last autumn in Graz, Austria, Poland scooped three bronze medals: in welding, cooking and floristry, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported at the time.
Help for Ukraine’s team
Besides hosting the 2023 competition and fielding its own contestants, Poland has pledged to provide support for participants and skills-experts from Ukraine.
A host of organisations signed a letter of intent to this effect at an international business conference in the southern city of Katowice earlier this week.
They committed to “finance the Ukrainian team’s participation in EuroSkills 2023” as well as “help Ukrainian contestants with training and practice,” officials told reporters.
The signatories included the FRSE, the state-run Industrial Development Agency (ARP), and Silesian University, based in the southern city of Katowice.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, worldskillspoland.org