From an engineering perspective, the team won bronze medals: Danny Slater and Jack Dakin of Toyota Manufacturing UK (both aged 24 from Derby) won a bronze in Mechatronics; and Ross Megahy of New College Lanarkshire (aged 21 from Newmains) won a bronze in Mechanical Engineering CAD. In addition, Scott Kerr of Coleg Menai and PFS (aged 21 from Anglesey), secured a Medallion of Excellence in Welding.
Dr Neil Bentley, CEO of WorldSkills UK says: “This is a fantastic result for Team UK and the country as a whole. We were gunning for a top 10 position and we got it. These brilliant young people – training and preparing them to be among the very best in Europe – are the UK’s new generation of high flyers.
“Budapest was a litmus test to see how the UK might fare when we leave the EU next year,” he adds. “We had an amazing result and the team worked incredibly hard, but we can’t be complacent. Other countries across Europe are investing heavily in skills development, and we need to ensure we don’t fall behind. Governments, employers and the education sector must embrace this success, and use the energy and momentum generated here to help propel economic growth and productivity.”
More than 100,000 spectators attended the three-day event in the Hungarian capital.