More and more students are taking up vocational education and training (VET) as a response to the requirements of pre-existing employment, according to new research published by the National Centre for Vocational Education and Training (NCVER).

 

The Student Outcomes 2012 provides a national scorecard on Australia's training system, which surveys students six months after the completion of their studies, covering why they undertook training, how satisfied they were with their training and how relevant their training is to their current job.

 

The results show that 83% of VET graduates undertook their training for job-related reasons, with 19.9% reporting they undertook training to gain extra skills for their current job. This has steadily grown from 15.3% in 2006.

 

The proportion of graduates who undertook training as a requirement of their job rose to 18.2%, up from 16.4% in 2011.

 

Ms Sandra Pattison, General Manager, Statistics, NCVER, said these findings are largely consistent with expectations and in response to changing labour market conditions.

 

“When people feel uncertain about economic conditions and the labour market, they tend to look to study to boost their skills to get a job or remain competitive.”

 

Overall, the employment of VET graduates remained stable this year, with 77.8% in work after finishing their studies. Measures of satisfaction with training remained high, with 89.1% satisfied with the overall quality of training.

 

All data in Student outcomes 2012 is derived from the Student Outcomes Survey which is conducted in the first half of each year on behalf of the Australian, state and territory governments.

 

Copies of the Student outcomes 2012 are available from www.ncver.edu.au/publications.2572.html. For further information on the survey visit www.ncver.edu.au/sos/faq.html