To launch 2025 the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, WorldSkills China, and WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 hosted a symposium at Jiefang Daily focused on enhancing the promotion of WorldSkills Competition 2026.

With the goal of creating an event that is “innovative and widely influential”, the symposium gathered experts and participants from Shanghai’s vocational skills colleges and industry, to gain their valuable insights on enhancing awareness for the 48th WorldSkills Competition and maximizing the Competition’s influence.

“By fostering learning and construction through competitions, we can maximize the leading role of the WorldSkills Competition in advancing talent development,” said Xiang Guoping, Vice President of Shanghai Kechuang Vocational and Technical College. “We should highlight the exemplary stories from the WorldSkills Competitions to lead the path of skill-based talent cultivation, and incorporate them into schools’ comprehensive ideological education to achieve the goal of nurturing talent.”

There was unanimous agreement among the participants that it’s essential to focus on key groups such as the youth, continue to intensify the promotion of the WorldSkills Competition, tell the inspiring Shanghai stories of achieving skill success, and extensively promote both domestically and internationally. This will help create a positive atmosphere that  is exciting and respects, and engages with skills, thereby fostering the development of a skilled workforce and achieving high-quality and full employment.

Jiang Hong, Dean of the School of Hotel Management at Shanghai Business School and head coach of the Chinese team for the WorldSkills Competition in Hotel Reception, suggests, “We should integrate WorldSkills Occupational Standards to develop skill talent cultivation standards, promoting the transformation of competition standards into teaching standards. Additionally, it is necessary to transform the details of WorldSkills Competitions into teaching resources, develop a series of textbooks and learning materials, and establish a diverse and open assessment and evaluation system to promote the widespread application of WorldSkills outcomes in skilled talent development.”

WorldSkills Competitions serve a dual purpose of developing skilled talent and promoting skills careers to younger students, uncertain of where their future could lead. “The WorldSkills Competition plays a vital role in creating an environment that promotes the development of skilled talent,” said Yuan Hairong Director of Technology Research and Development at Siemens (China).

In September 2026, the eyes of the world will be on Shanghai, the international economic, financial, trade, shipping, science and technology innovation center of China. The National Exhibition and Convention Center Shanghai (NECC) will welcome about 1,300 Competitors from over 60 countries and regions.

Hosting the 48th WorldSkills Competition in China is part of a national strategy to bring attention to the importance of skills for economic and social prosperity and attract more young people to learn skills. WorldSkills China and WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 will continue to focus on young skill groups, continue to intensify the promotion of the WorldSkills Competition, tell the inspiring stories of achieving skill success, and create a positive atmosphere of appreciating skills, advocating for skills and devoting themselves to skills development in their society.