A competitor from China prepares for the 48th WorldSkills Competition at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), Sept 21, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]
Regarded as the world's largest and most influential vocational skills competition, the 48th WorldSkills Competition brings together 1,385 young professionals from 68 countries and regions to showcase a wide range of vocational skills in Shanghai from Sept 22 to 27.
The competition is primarily for young skilled professionals with competitors completing around six hours of practical work each day, carrying out hands-on tasks and demonstrating their skills under competitive conditions.
Seven new skills have been introduced to the competition this year: software testing, intelligent security technology, rail vehicle technology, unmanned aerial systems, digital interactive media design, dental prosthetics and retail sales.
While dentists handle clinical diagnosis and treatment, dental technicians use oral scan data to focus on the precise, customized creation of prosthetics such as dentures, crowns and veneers, without getting involved in frontline clinical work, explained Zhou Manli, head coach of the Shanghai team for the new event and director of the Prosthetics department at Xuhui District Dental Hospital.
"This competition demands extreme precision—an error of just 0.2 millimeters can affect how well a prosthetic fits and ultimately the final score," she said. "In a three-dimensional space, each tooth has its own coordinate system. Dental prosthetics combines knowledge from medicine, aesthetics, and other fields, representing a mix of technical skills and craftsmanship."
The standardized WorldSkills competition system will set international norms for the industry, helping the traditional dental prosthetics field move away from rough manual work and accelerate its shift toward digital, standardized, and highly precise practices.
Based on the current development status of the global rail transit industry and the talent gap, the 48th WorldSkills Competition has also added rail vehicle technology as a new event.
This event fully adopts Chinese standards, filling the gap in the special competition for rail transit vehicles in the WorldSkills Competition, and building a professional platform for the training, exchange and evaluation of global rail transit skilled talents, according to Yang Danhao, a coach for the event and teacher at Shanghai Communications Polytechnic.
The total operating mileage of urban rail transit in China has now exceeded 11,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. Behind this huge industry and network of applications, there is a massive demand for skilled professionals, according to Huang Kaili, another coach for the rail vehicle technology competition and a teacher from Shanghai Communications Polytechnic.
"The competition is not about driving trains," added Yang. "The competition plan is based on the maintenance and upkeep of rail transportation. The focus is on troubleshooting and maintenance of the trains."
Beyond the skill competitions, WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 also features an expo and an international conference exploring skills development, career pathways, and the future of vocational education and training.
Covering nearly 50,000 square meters, the expo will feature interactive activities such as "Try-a-Skill" experience stations and skills workshops for young people.
