Selection Competitions

To qualify for the National Skills Competition (NSC), candidates must first compete in Selection Competitions (SC).

Background

To qualify for the National Skills Competition (NSC), candidates must first compete in Selection Competitions (SC) that are held at pre-selected training institutions countrywide. The SC registration period is announced at the launch of every NSC. This is done a year before the NSC. Thereafter, applications are made available and can be downloaded from the NTA and WorldSkills websites.

Applicants are expected to submit their application forms at the nearest Selection Competition venue in the respective regions, indicating the specific venue where they wish to go for the Selection Competition. Following, is a period of advocating competition activities, through the 121 constituencies, covering all 14 regions in Namibia.

To give an equal opportunity to all skilled TVET enthusiasts, the SC, and subsequently the NSC has no age restriction and the WSN Secretariat encourages eligible trainees at public and private training institutions and industries, including training institutions of the Namibia Defence Force and Correctional Services to enter and compete at the sectional competitions.

School learners interested in learning more about technical and vocational courses and training options are also encouraged to compete. As much as there are no age restrictions to the national competitions, according to the WorldSkills rules, only competitors that would be 22 years or younger at the first date of the next WorldSkills Competition, will qualify for selection to the WorldSkills Competition Namibian team.

The Process

Through the Selection Competition, hundreds of potential National Skills Competition (NSC) competitors gather at pre-determined Selection Competition venues to undergo a rigorous selection processes involving theoretical assessments and practical exercises. These important activities not only ensures the quality of eventual competitors at the NSC, but it also evokes competitiveness and demonstration of high level skills among training providers as they fight for limited spots at the NSC.

The Selection Competition allows technical institutions and individuals to test their skills proficiency against that of their peers To ensure a quality and successful Selection Competition, WSN trained 4 experts from each of the 12 skills in areas ranging from the development of test projects using AutoCAD and other instruments, organizing and managing Selection Competition, marking test project, as well as compiling Selection Competition results and reports.

Through several technical workshops, experts were able to develop all required competition materials for the Selection Competition which include: Competition Rules, Technical Descriptions, Test Projects, Application Forms, Selection Guidelines and Marking Schemes. The Experts are also very instrumental in determining the number of competitors to feature in each skills area during the Selection Competition in consideration of technical reality but also the available budget.