At the Trafford and Stockport College Group (TSCG) we are committed to the delivery of skills excellence – supporting, motivating and inspiring our students to go from competence to excellence in their chosen subject.
The pinnacle of our approach is our participation in the highly prestigious WorldSkills UK (WSUK) competitions – effectively the Skills Olympics, which are held regionally, nationally and internationally. WorldSkills UK is a national skills network that embeds world-class training standards across the UK.
WorldSkills UK uses global best practice to raise standards in apprenticeships and technical education. Through competition-based learning, we help young people build the high-quality skills employers need to succeed.
For four consecutive years, TSCG has had more students register for the WSUK competitions journey than any college in the United Kingdom.
In 2023 and 2024 we hosted the National Finals across a range of competitions including Beauty Therapy, Hairdressing, Health and Social Care, Media Makeup and Floristry.
Our students continue to have huge success in reaching the National Finals – with finalists and medal winners across a diverse range of technical disciplines.
As well as our involvement in WSUK, for over a decade the nine Further Education Colleges of Greater Manchester have developed and collaborated on the highly successful GM Skills Competitions.
In 2025 more than a thousand students competed in seventy individual competitions.
These local competitions provide our students with invaluable opportunities to test their skills against students from other colleges across the entire range of vocational and technical education provision.
Preparation and participation helps students build confidence, develop resilience, refine their skills, and test their abilities in real-world scenarios.
At TSCG, the philosophy and practice of skills competitions underpin our approach to the delivery of technical and vocational education – it isn’t just a once-a-year opportunity for a chosen few.
That’s why the fundamentals of skills competitions are built into our educational programmes – including a dedicated week of activities focused on building the mindset and confidence to push skills development even further.
Our approach to embedding skills competitions is supported by our status as a WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence – which we were one of the first colleges in the UK to achieve.
The WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence empowers educators to incorporate world-class techniques into their teaching, providing world-class teacher training, interactive networks for innovation, communities of practice in digital, advanced manufacturing and thought leadership.
