City & Guilds invest in WorldSkills 2011

City & Guilds are pleased to announce today that they are the principal educational awards partner supporting the London bid for the 2011 WorldSkills1 Championships.

As the UKís leading provider of work related qualifications, City & Guilds are setting the pace for UK businesses by investing 1 million into the 2011 bid.

There is a lot at stake for the UK as winning the bid will be an excellent opportunity to showcase both the countryís and City & Guildsí global ambition in skills education. It is all hands on deck with only three weeks to go (10th May) until the announcement of the host country with the UK bidding against Melbourne (Australia) and Gothenburg (Sweden).

Chris Humphries, chairman of UK Skills, is calling upon all business leaders to invest time and money into the bid, which will form an integral part of national skills development and promotion. It will also provide a practical demonstration of the levels of excellence that can be achieved in vocational skills.

The bid comes at a crucial time for the UK and is supported by the commitment from the Governmentís recent White Paper on Further Education which states that the UK should invest in skills so that our country can effectively compete on the global stage.

Keith Brooker director of group markets and products at City & Guilds commented: Our commitment to WorldSkills 2011 is threefold. Firstly, the investment gives us an opportunity to increase the profile of vocational skills for young people. Secondly, if London wins the right to host the 2011 Games it will act as a catalyst for the UKís commitment to becoming a high skill economy, helping to ensure that the current skills gap is plugged. Finally, it is also an ideal opportunity to establish City & Guilds as a global leader in skills education. We hope that through our support and that of other businesses we will be able to win the bid and showcase in our home country the skills that we know the younger generation have.