Shanghai launches second city-wide vocational skills contest

Shanghai kicked off its second city-wide vocational skills contest over the weekend. The city is gearing up to host the 48th WorldSkills Competition next year.

The second Shanghai Skills Competition, held by the Shanghai Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Qingpu District government, will run till the end of May and see about 1,000 contestants from companies, associations and schools compete in 101 skill categories. Winners will have the opportunity to represent Shanghai at the third National Vocational Skills Competition in September in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, where some of them will also vie for a chance to take part in next year's WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai.

The skills are in line with the city's key industrial development, such as Industry 4.0 and autonomous mobile robotics.

At last year's 47th WorldSkills Competition in Lyon, France, teachers Lu Junwei and Xie Huiyuan from the Shanghai Technology and Innovation Vocational College won the gold prize in Industry 4.0 and snatched the "Albert Vida Award" as the top scorers at the event.

"Industry 4.0 requires a wide range of skills, such as mechanics, electrics, automation and computer," said chief expert Yuan Hairong of Team China during the Lyon WorldSkills Competition. "This category is important as it represents one of the key industries in Shanghai – smart manufacturing.

"With the development of intelligent manufacturing, there is an increasing demand for such talent. Events like skills competitions can help improve capabilities of the young generation and thus promote the development of smart manufacturing industry."

Autonomous mobile robotics was another spotlight at the competition, which required teams of two members to develop and code robots to do tasks in a simulated fruit ranch. They needed to recognize and pick fruits and deliver them to designated locations, in the meanwhile detour obstacles on the way.

The Shanghai Information Technology College had a team of two students under 18 to compete in the event.

"Vocational education is an essential part of our education system, opening up diversified possibilities for students," said Ge Rui, principal of the vocational college. "Skills competitions like this can not only improve their skills, but also confidence. Vocational school students are not inferior to others. They can also be recognized on national or even world stages."

Ge said there would be a high demand for service robots in various sectors, such as senior care industry, and he is optimistic about the employment prospects of students majoring in robotics.