Azorean Vocational School students on training course for EuroSkills in Denmark - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

A dozen trainees and trainers from Azorean Vocational Schools will begin training tomorrow, February 17, in Portalegre. This is the first of four weeks of training to select the competitors who will be part of the Portuguese team at EuroSkills—Herning 2025, which will take place from September 9 to 13 in Denmark.

Following the results achieved at SkillsPortugal - Norte 2024, held in November, and considering the occupations approved by the IEFP - Employment and Vocational Training Institute to represent Portugal at EuroSkills, Azorean trainees were invited to take part in a traineeship in four occupations/vocational areas and fight for a place in the national team.

This is the case of Gonçalo Gil, Praia da Vitória Vocational School (EPPV) trainee and Silver Medalist in "Restaurant and Bar Service" at SkillsPortugal 2024. He is participating in the training for the European competition in the "Restaurant Service" category, with Acácio Oliveira, a trainer at the Azores Qualification Centre (CQA), as his coach.

In the area of "IT Network Systems Administration," Marco Melo, a trainee at ENTA - Azores School of New Technologies and Silver Medallist in "Computer Network Management" at SkillsPortugal, will fight for his place on the national team with Jorge Soares, a trainer at ENTA.

The competition in the area of "Pâtisserie and Confectionery" will also see the participation of Guilherme Vasconcelos, an EPPV trainee and Gold Medallist in "Confectionery" at SkillsPortugal, with EPPV trainer Raúl Sousa as his coach.

"Web Development" is the fourth professional area where Azorean champions will show their talent, this time with EPROSEC School trainee Nelson Ponte, Gold Medallist in “Web Technologies” at SkillsPortugal, with Pedro Medeiros, a trainer at EPROSEC School, as his coach.

Pedro Marques, an EPROSEC trainer, will participate in EuroSkills 2025 as an international jury member in the "Web Development" area.

António Paquete, a CQA trainer, will be the Team Leader of the national team at the European Skills Championship.

Although "Mobile Robotics" is not part of the list of 22 occupations competing at EuroSkills, CQA graduates Gonçalo Botelho and Henrique Miranda, Silver Medallists in "Mobile Robotics" at SkillsPortugal, have been invited to take part in the traineeships that are now beginning and contribute to Portugal's participation in WorldSkills - Shanghai 2026, which will take place from September 22 to 27 in China.

Ricardo Mousinho, a CQA trainer, will be an international judge at WorldSkills - Shanghai 2026 in the "Mobile Robotics" area.

The training to prepare and select trainees for the national teams at EuroSkills and WorldSkills runs from February 17 to 21, March 17 to 21, May 5 to 9 and July 7 to 11.

The path of the trainees who will now take part in these selection competitions began at AzoresSkills - Regional Skills Championship, in May 2024, which saw the largest turnout ever in terms of the number of competitors, schools and occupations in competition.

This was followed in November by SkillsPortugal - Norte 2024, where trainees from Azorean Vocational Schools won 18 medals - seven gold medals, five silver medals, three bronze medals, two medals for excellence and one medal for the best trainee in the Region.

The Regional Government, through the Regional Secretariat for Youth, Housing and Employment, is ensuring the Region's participation in the EuroSkills and WorldSkills access competitions with public investment of about 90 thousand Euros for expenses related to travel and trainees' technical preparation.