Team Hong Kong vows to deliver its best at upcoming WorldSkills Lyon 2024

The WorldSkills Competition, hailed as the “Skills Olympics”, will be hosted by Lyon, France, in September this year. Hong Kong will be represented by 38 talented young people participating in 33 skills competitions, the city’s largest team ever, taking on counterparts from around the world. Members of the Team Hong Kong vowed to give their best during the Flag Presentation Ceremony last Friday (16 August), at which the Secretary for Education Dr CHOI Yuk-lin and Deputy Consul for Culture, Science and Education, Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau Ms Camélia AISSAT officiated at the ceremony and wished the Team Hong Kong great success.

Dr CHOI said, vocational and professional education and training (VPET) plays a pivotal role in broadening the learning opportunities for young people and working adults as well as nurturing the essential human capitals for Hong Kong’s economic and social development. The present endeavor and successes in past iterations of the WorldSkills Competitions are fruitions of the unwavering support and commitment to the development of VPET of the society. WorldSkills is not merely a competition for the Team Hong Kong to prove their abilities; it is also a platform for cultural and educational dialogue and exchange.

Chairman of the Standing Committee on Youth Skills Competition Dr Roy CHUNG noted that WorldSkills Lyon 2024 would not only highlight competitors’ achievements but also elevate the standard of VPET in Hong Kong by bringing it to the international stage. With the staunch support from the Government, industry partners, and VPET providers, VPET had gained wider recognition in Hong Kong, and he hoped the momentum would further thrive following the WorldSkills Competition in Lyon.

The biennial WorldSkills Competition organised by WorldSkills International is the world’s largest vocational education and skills excellence event, aimed at raising awareness of VPET, as well as providing a valuable exchange platform for competitors and experts. The Lyon event taking place from 10 to 15 September will be the 47th to date and will feature some 1,400 skilled young people from over 70 countries and regions, participating in 59 skills competitions. 38 Hong Kong competitors will participate in 33 skills trades (please refer to Annex for details), which is also the highest number ever. They are now actively preparing for the competition and aiming to win glory for Hong Kong.

Four competitions being newly joined by Hong Kong this time are Bakery, Hotel Reception, Aircraft Maintenance and Rail Vehicle Technology. Jeff KWOK Shing-tsung, a graduate of Diploma in Bakery, Pastry and Confectionery programme at International Culinary Institute (ICI), will be the city’s representative in Bakery competition. He expresses his honour at being the first Hong Kong competitor to participate in this skills trade, saying he is not concerned about the lack of prior competition experience from Hong Kong as he feels this gives him more room to be creative and unleash his potential. He looks forward to bringing back his experiences from France to share with his juniors.

Jeff says his long-standing passion for baking was cultivated by his father, a skilled chef. In his youth he loved watching cooking videos and especially enjoyed baking home-made bread. Noting that the use of different yeast varieties and fermentation periods can create bread with varying flavours, he says the preparation process, along with the versatility and malleability of the final product, always greatly interested him. As different types of bread require distinct professional techniques, he is currently having intensive training to master new varieties. For example, when crafting the classic French baguette, he aims to retain as much air as possible inside the dough to ensure a crispy exterior, soft interior and even distribution of air pockets after fermentation.

Regarding sourdough bread which has gained much popularity for its health aspects in recent years, Jeff says this needs especially high skills as it contains no additives and relies solely on natural fermentation of a flour, salt and water dough. Precise control of temperature and humidity is the key to success, he emphasises. He adds that his father is proud to see him representing Hong Kong in this competition which will inspire him to achieve the best possible result, hoping that he can follow in his father’s footsteps to become an outstanding chef.

In another newly-contested skills competition for Team Hong Kong, Aircraft Maintenance, Jason WONG Fu-tung will be the city’s representative. A graduate of the Higher Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering programme at Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), Jason is eager to showcase Hong Kong’s technical expertise on this international stage. He currently works as a junior aircraft maintenance mechanic at a local aircraft engineering company. The Aircraft Maintenance skills trade requires competitors to perform technical trouble-shooting for the repair and maintenance of all types of aircraft. Balancing his roles as a newcomer in the workplace and a competitor at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, Jason says he is grateful to his company for their full support during his preparations for the competition, including flexible work arrangements and access to professional equipment for practice. 

Discussing his choice of aircraft maintenance as a career, Jason recalls that he has been interested in engineering since childhood. Being able to work in a role that ensures flight safety fills him with a sense of mission and accomplishment. His current responsibilities involve maintaining and repairing components of the aircraft cabin including the cockpit, luggage racks, lavatories, seats, doors, windows and emergency escape facilities, so as to ensure smooth operation of all equipment. His professional skills have already been highly recognised, especially in precision metal joining which is crucial to aircraft maintenance. He has mastered processes such as rivet installation, drilling and joining. Jason says that joining the WorldSkills Competition offers him a rare opportunity and he looks forward to showcasing Hong Kong’s professional skills, as well as exchanging knowledge with talented young skills talents from around the world. He hopes this competition experience can contribute to his future career development as an “aircraft doctor”.

Competitors for Team Hong Kong are all winners of the WorldSkills Hong Kong Competition jointly organised by the Vocational Training Council (VTC), the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA) subsequently selected to represent Hong Kong through various assessments. Since first participating in WorldSkills in 1997, Hong Kong has won three Gold medals, one Silver, five Bronzes and 71 Medallions for Excellence – a testimony to the world-recognised skill levels of the city’s competitors.

Established in 1982, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) is the largest vocational and professional education and training provider in Hong Kong. The mission of VTC is to provide a valued choice to school leavers and working people to acquire the values, knowledge and skills for lifelong learning and enhanced employability, and also to provide support to industries for their manpower development. VTC has 14 member institutions, namely the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi), the Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge (PEAK), the School for Higher and Professional Education (SHAPE), the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI), the Hong Kong Institute of Information Technology (HKIIT),  the Hotel and Tourism Institute (HTI),  the Chinese Culinary Institute (CCI), the International Culinary Institute (ICI), the Maritime Services Training Institute (MSTI), Youth College, Pro-Act by VTC, the Integrated Vocational Development Centre (IVDC) and the Shine Skills Centre.

Website:  www.vtc.edu.hk

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Annex: WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Competition Trades Participated by Team Hong Kong

*Newly-contested competition trades by Team Hong Kong
#Demonstration trade