When Charlie Priestley’s lecturer at North East Scotland College suggested he enter a skills competition in 2023, he could not have anticipated where it would lead. Two years on, he is preparing to represent Team UK at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, competing against more than 80 countries in IT Network Systems Administration – and he credits the qualifications he earned through Qualifications Scotland as the foundation that made it possible.

Charlie first competed in the national skills competition in 2023 under the IT Network Systems Administration category, finishing second in the UK and Ireland. Encouraged by the experience, he entered again in 2024 under the IT Support Technician category, earning another silver medal and catching the attention of the WorldSkills Squad UK selectors. After an intense three-day selection event against a fellow competitor, he was chosen to represent the UK at Shanghai 2026, joining a squad of five.

The practical, industry-focused skills he developed through his NextGen Higher National Diploma (HND) in Networking and Cloud Infrastructure, delivered through Qualifications Scotland at SCQF Level 8, proved directly transferable to competition.

The course gave him hands-on experience with real hardware and covered modules including Cloud Virtualisation Infrastructure, Network Infrastructure, Network Server Operating Systems, and Infrastructure Maintenance and Support. “The course is very practical and industry-focused,” Charlie says. “You get access to full hardware, which means the skills you build are the ones employers and competitions actually need.”

It is that grounding in real-world application, rather than theory alone, that Charlie believes set him apart. The Cisco networking experience built into his qualification mirrors the kind of technical challenges competitors face on the world stage, and the depth of his cloud and infrastructure knowledge has been central to his preparation for each International Pressure Test.

Since completing his qualification, Charlie has gone on to work as a lecturer at the college where he studied, passing on those same practical skills to a new generation of learners, while simultaneously studying at university.

He describes the alignment between what he learned through his Qualifications Scotland qualification and what the industry demands as seamless: ” I apply the skills I learned throughout these courses to my teaching. I have looked at applying for networking jobs in industry and have found that I have already learnt many of the requirements for the jobs as part of my studies.”

Charlie has no hesitation in recommending the NextGen HND Networking and Cloud Infrastructure to others. “I’d highly recommend this course, as it gives a very practical approach to learning computer networks. We were given free rein to produce an industry-grade network, allowed full access to any hardware we needed, and used commonly used equipment and practices, such as designing and wiring a server cabinet.”

Preparation for the Shanghai WorldSkills event is intensifying. Charlie has already competed in International Pressure Tests hosted in the UK and Taiwan, with further events planned in South Korea against eight countries and a UK-hosted competition against Germany and Spain ahead of the main event in September.

Speaking about how he felt about the upcoming competition, Charlie said: “I feel a mix of excitement and nerves, but determination more than anything. I have been told that this will be the biggest WorldSkills event in history, so to be chosen to represent Scotland and the rest of the UK for such a big event fills me with pride.”