A Telford College health student has qualified for the UK final of a global ‘skills olympics’ competition.

Callum McCarthy will be travelling to Manchester in November to take part in the UK WorldSkills final, where winners will be chosen to represent the UK on the international stage.

WorldSkills is a partnership between education, industry and the government, designed to boost the prestige of technical and professional education by embedding world-class training standards.

Callum was one of five Telford College T-Level students who made it through to the second stage of this year’s competition last month. One of his colleagues, Sophie Flavell, is also on the reserve list for the national final.

Callum said: “There are basically four steps to this competition – on the first step they send you work to complete, and if they think you’ve done well enough, they progress you to the next stage.

“The second stage involved doing some more work on a zoom or teams call, based on a brief which was provided, and the next one is an in-person session, where we will be taking on more tasks.

“If I progress to the fourth step, I’ll get the chance to meet students from all over the world.”

WorldSkills UK is part of the global WorldSkills movement, involving more than 80 countries, which supports young people with competitions-based training, assessment and benchmarking.

National teams ultimately test their ability to achieve world-class standards in the ‘skills olympics’, held every two years.

This year’s global final is being held in the French city of Lyon where around 1,500 competitors from 65 countries and regions will compete in 62 professions, demonstrating their excellence and know-how.

Organisers say: “Much more than a competition, WorldSkills aims to combat prejudices around professional training to respond to the challenges of these sectors – and to encourage young people to choose these professions of the future.”

Sarah Davies, director of health and science at Telford College, said: “WorldSkills is a fabulous initiative which champions the world’s leading students across dozens of categories.

“We were absolutely delighted to have five of our T-Level health students making it through to the second phase – to have a student in the national final, and another on the reserve list, is an absolutely brilliant achievement.

“We can’t wait for the national finals now, which take place on November 19-22. I know that Callum will do the college proud.”