Glasgow Caledonian University students set to shine at WorldSkills Lyon 2024

Two exceptional students from Glasgow Caledonian University are among the 31 young people preparing to represent Team UK at the prestigious WorldSkills Lyon 2024, often referred to as the 'skills Olympics.'

Finley Graham from Airdrie and Yasmin George from Glasgow will showcase their remarkable talents on the international stage, competing alongside the world's best in their respective skill categories.

Finley will compete in the highly competitive IT Network Systems Administration category. Yasmin will showcase her exceptional skills in 3D Digital Game Art.

WorldSkills Lyon 2024, set to take place from September 10-15, will host more than 1,500 young people from 65 countries, competing in 62 different skill disciplines. Team UK, sponsored by global learning company Pearson, will be seeking glory in a wide range of disciplines, including cyber security, renewable energy, digital construction, cooking, hairdressing, and painting and decorating.

Michael McGuire, a lecturer in the Department of Construction and Surveying, is also involved in the process, designing the curriculum, test project, and overseeing the competition.

In 2018, responding to a skills gap in the UK construction industry, Michael collaborated with Worldskills UK and the Department of Education to improve digital construction education. Recognising his prior experience in designing digital construction curriculum in Scotland, he was tasked with creating a curriculum, learning materials, and a test project for all UK students and educators in digital construction courses. The curriculum, based on competition-based learning (CBL), is now used by over 20 UK institutions, with hundreds of students participating annually in a digital construction competition.

Top-performing students from the UK competition can advance to international competitions, representing the UK against the best students globally. Michael's leadership in the UK competition led to his election as Chief Expert, where he contributed to developing the curriculum and competition for countries in Europe and beyond.

A student Michael has been mentoring, Isabelle Barron from Sheffield Hallam University, won a gold medal in the European leg of the competition in Poland in September 2023. With the curriculum's success in the UK and Europe, Michael was invited to update and introduce it to Worldskills Asia, serving as a launchpad for educational institutions across Asia.

He said: "I'm a huge believer that competition accelerates learning and drives innovation, so to be invited to introduce that framework into the digital construction curriculum in Asia was great recognition for what we have achieved in Scotland and the UK education of digital construction students and professionals."