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New data from over 170 000 vocational education and training (VET) students shows that satisfaction with VET remains high, according to a new report by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

The annual National Student Outcomes Survey is Australia’s largest survey of VET students and provides information on employment outcomes and training satisfaction for students who completed nationally recognised VET delivered by registered training organisations in Australia in 2018.

Of the VET students who responded to the survey, 122 536 were graduates and 48 369 were subject completers, defined as those who completed at least one subject and then left the VET system without obtaining a qualification.

The data shows that satisfaction remains high in general for both groups, with 88.1% of graduates and 91.4% of subject completers satisfied with the overall quality of their training.

For VET graduates, 83.9% achieved their main reason for undertaking training, with 85.1% training for employment-related reasons, 11.3% for personal development reasons and 3.6% for further study reasons.

Employment outcomes for VET graduates were also good, with 65.8% having an improved employment status after training, and 46.8% of those who were not employed before training in employment after.

More generally, 85.6% of graduates were employed or enrolled in further study after training and the median annual income for VET graduates employed full-time after training was $59 100.

“Results from this year’s survey also show that students who completed a qualification at certificate III or higher had better employment outcomes than those who started but didn’t complete a qualification at the same level,” said Simon Walker, Managing Director, NCVER.

“The difference was greatest for those enrolled in a diploma or higher level qualification, where 67.8% of graduates had an improved employment status after training compared with 50.8% of students who enrolled in a qualification at this level but didn’t complete it.”

The main reasons given for not completing a qualification were training-related (31.7%), personal (22.4%), and because they got what they wanted from training (22.4%). The main training-related reason was ‘training was not as expected’ (13.3%).

The full report VET Student Outcomes 2019 and more information about the survey is available on our Portal.

A more in-depth view of training satisfaction and employment outcomes for apprentices and trainees will be provided in the report Apprentice and trainee experience and destinations 2019, to be released later this month.

Reference: NCVER Media Release