Seven NRC students in Worldskills UK Finals

The finalists, representing the College in four skills areas at the event, are Ryan Crooks, Luke Cassidy and Charlie Carson and Jason Scott (Industrial Robotics); David McMullan (CNC Milling); Jack Carlisle (IT Support Technician); and Conor Dallas (Joinery). They will compete for gold, silver and bronze at the finals, which will take place in venues across the UK, week commencing November 14.

WorldSkills is a competition-based development programme, designed by industry experts, to enhance the practical skills and knowledge taught on training courses.

The skills competitions, which are designed to boost skills and confidence, assess employability attributes against set criteria in a competitive environment.

Competitors who impress judges during the finals could be selected to represent the UK at the international WorldSkills finals, the ‘Skills Olympics’, in France in 2024.

Last year, engineering students at the College’s Ballymena campus had a clean sweep in the Industrial Robotics category at the national finals. Brennan Wilson and Louie Health won gold, Cameron Middleton and Adam Kirkpatrick were silver medallists and Jude Moore and Aaron Stevenson were bronze medal winners. Savannah Hodgins, who studied Creative Media Production (Digital Game Development) at Newtownabbey was a silver medallist in the 3D Digital Games Art category.

Cameron Middleton and Adam Kirkpatrick secured their spot on the UK national squad and will travel to China for the international WorldSkills finals in Shanghai in October this year.

Congratulating students from across the UK who took part in the qualifying stages of the competition, WorldSkills UK Deputy CEO Ben Blackledge said: “I want to offer my congratulations to everyone who registered for our competitions this year, especially those who are now going on to compete in November’s finals.”