We are delighted to announce that Jake Greenwood, a first-year Electronic and Electrical Engineering undergraduate student has reached the National Final of the WorldSkills Industrial Electronics Competition.
Dr Raja Toqeer, from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, trained ten undergraduate students to participate in the regional competition, which took place on June 20th 2024. They were competing against other students across the country and now the top eight, including our very own Jake Greenwood, have been selected to participate in the National Final in Manchester between the 19th and 22nd November 2024 to win Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. The event itself, is a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their talents and skills at a national level and we're thrilled that Jake has made the final as well as all of our students who took place in the regionals.
WorldSkills UK is a prestigious UK Government Funded competition that recognises excellence in technical skills across various industries. The Industrial Electronics competition tests students' abilities in areas such as circuit design, building, fault diagnosis, soldering, mini projects and embedded systems using Arduino. Participation in this competition provides students with valuable experience, helps them refine their skills, and gives them a chance to showcase their talents on a national platform.
A number of our students involved in the regionals commented upon their experience:
“I really enjoyed participating in this competition, as it was a challenging but enriching experience. It motivated me to explore and refine my skills in time management, working under pressure, problem-solving, and technical safety. My main reason for participating was to discover what I truly enjoyed within the field of electronics. The variety of tasks, from soldering and designing using software to building and debugging faults in circuits, allowed me to find my passion for circuit design and construction. This experience has significantly enhanced my career prospects in electronics by providing practical skills and clarity about my potential professional interests that I am eager to pursue further.”
Rhea Cindy D'souza
“This competition involves not only soft skills - Simulating on LTspice, Designing PCB on fusion 360, but also requires our hard skills - soldering, circuitry diagnostic, which got my attention as an opportunity to test my skills and enhance myself. Everythings ran very smoothly and thus we have to thank Dr.Raja and Mr.Steve. They provided lots of support and technical help which gave us a high concentration on the competition tasks. This event acts as a practical situation for the electronics industry, giving out tasks that are nearly close to real-life applications, which allows me to have a try and taste what electronic engineers really are. Overall, the competition is very useful if you are interested in or currently studying related to electronics.”
Kwan Ho Ng
World Skills is a global movement of over 80 countries started in 1946. WorldSkills supports young people across the world via competitions-based training, assessment and benchmarking, with members’ national teams ultimately testing their ability to achieve world-class standards in the biennial ‘skills olympics’. The insights gained from competitions as part of this global network enables embedding world-class training standards across the UK to help drive investment, jobs and economic growth.
Congratulations to everyone involved.