WorldSkills Team UK medal success for UTC Sheffield City Centre alumnus

23rd November 2022

Former UTC Sheffield City Centre student Kamil Zmich, 24, and his team-mate Liam Whitby, have won bronze medals in WorldSkills 2022. Photo courtesy of WorldSkills International.

Kamil Zmich, from Sheffield, and team-mate Liam Whitby, from Derbyshire, both aged 24, won bronze medals in the WorldSkills Industry 4.0 final in Stuttgart, Germany.

Industry 4.0 is a new competition which made its debut at the multi-country international skills competition organised by WorldSkills.

It takes its name from the fourth industrial revolution covering the changes happening in technology and the digitisation of the modern world.

Kamil said:

“Winning a medal is a huge achievement and I’m over the moon that all the hard work has finally paid off.

“The whole experience of being involved with WorldSkills – medals aside – has been brilliant and will be a massive boost to my career.

“I’d like to thank everyone who helped along the way and WorldSkills UK for the amazing opportunity.”

Kamil works for Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK and is one of Team UK’s most decorated members.

Kamil has previously achieved gold, silver and bronze medals in the national final of the mechatronics skills competition including whilst he was a studying at UTC Sheffield City Centre. Alongside a technical engineering qualification, Kamil also studied maths and physics A Levels.

The UTC, on Matilda Street, is Ofsted graded ‘good’ and offers 13 to 19-year-olds GCSEs and A Levels as well as technical qualifications in two specialisms: engineering and advanced manufacturing, and creative and digital media.

Alex Reynolds, Principal, UTC Sheffield City Centre, said:

“It is brilliant to see Kamil do so well as he develops his technical, teamwork and problem solving skills to the highest level and progresses with his career. We are very proud of Kamil and would like to congratulate him for his success.”

This year, there are 61 finals featuring over 1,000 competitors in 15 countries throughout October and November.

The Industry 4.0 final in Stuttgart, that took place last month, was the first competition featuring Team UK members.

In total, 35 members of Team UK representing all four UK nations are vying with peers from around the world to be crowned world’s best in their particular skill.

The UK is looking to improve on a 12th place finish at the 2019 international event in Kazan, Russia and climb back into the medal table’s top 10.

Ben Blackledge, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, WorldSkills UK, said: “We are so proud of Liam and Kamil for kicking things off for Team UK with a medal in the first ever Industry 4.0 WorldSkills competition.

“The skills being tested here like mechanics, pneumatics and cyber technology are vital if we are to grow a high-skills high-wage economy and it is just brilliant to see us leading the way like this.

“As part of Team UK, Liam and Kamil are brilliant role models for other young people and their success shows how an apprenticeship or vocational training can lead to great career success.

“We are using the insights gained from this international event to drive up training standards across the UK so that more young people and their employers can benefit.”

For more information about the competitions, which run until November 26th, 2022, please visit the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition website. Register for the UTC’s next Year 12 showcase event on Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 from 5pm until 7pm.

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