SwissSkills 2022: Quite a few winners

Since Wednesday, September 7, 2022, more than 1000 young professionals have chosen the Swiss champions at 87 professional competitions. At the three-hour awards ceremony on Saturday evening, which was marked by a lot of emotion, the top three finishers in each profession received a medal. The Debrunner Acifer Trophy for the best Swiss champion went to Matthias Baumann. He receives a hybrid passenger car at his free disposal for one year.

Record SwissSkills 2022

It has become already in the run-up signed off: SwissSkills 2022 will go down in history with several records. More than 1,000 young vocational talents took part in 87 competitions and 65 vocational demonstrations, and the organizers counted 120,000 visitors, 64,000 of them schoolchildren. For the arrival of the school classes, the SBB used 40 extra trains. The competitions and performances took place at around 250 stands, and the area around Bernexpo covered 100,000 square meters. More than 10,000 people were involved in the preparation and execution of the event. OC President Daniel Arn is very satisfied and happy: "I am absolutely delighted that everything went off without any major incidents. SwissSkills 2022 will remain in my memory as a wonderful event."

Proud Federal Council

Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin congratulated each winner personally. In his speech, he expressed his pride in the participants of SwissSkills 2022, saying that they had given their best and had shed an extraordinary light on the enormous diversity of vocational education and training in our country, its quality and efficiency.

"You belong to the elite of Swiss vocational education and training," the enthusiastic Minister of Economic Affairs called out to the professional talents. Parmelin expressed his conviction that those winners who participate in the international competitions EuroSkills 2023 and WorldSkills 2024 would represent Switzerland in a worthy manner. He also wished the SwissSkills National Team every success for the upcoming World Skills Competition 2022. The decentralized competition format takes place in 15 countries, including six Swiss cities.

Family day last highlight

On Sunday, 11 September 2022, SwissSkills 2022 came to an end with a final highlight. Under the title "Best of SwissSkills", visitors had the opportunity to try out for themselves most of the 150 professions presented. In addition, the newly crowned professional champions were available for discussions.

OC President Daniel Arn is delighted that the Swiss Vocational Championships have met with such great interest. He was particularly impressed by the interest shown by schoolchildren who have yet to complete their vocational training: "On weekdays, tens of thousands of schoolchildren flocked to the grounds when the doors opened. Most of them were interested in the professions, went to the stands, got information and didn't kill time in a corner somewhere. The young people were literally on their way to their professional future."

Next SwissSkills in three years

Organizing the Swiss Professional Championships means a great deal of effort every time. Without the support of the trade fair location Bernexpo, the public sector and sponsors, it would not work, says Daniel Arn. The professional associations and their participants also brought life to the stands with their facilities and demonstrations. Daniel Arn: "Without them, there would be no SwissSkills!"

Is it possible to top this year's edition of SwissSkills? Hardly, admits Daniel Arn. "We have reached the capacity limit. Nevertheless, there will always be opportunities to gain a few square meters at one location or another, for example if a new association wants to participate in SwissSkills. But we don't want to define ourselves simply by size. Growing in quality is much more important to us." With these prerequisites in mind, they are now planning the next SwissSkills, which will once again take place in Bern in 2025.

Source: www.swiss-skills.ch; the complete rankings are available here: swiss-skills2022.ch/en/competition/results