NCVER’s data shows “a positive trend in employment for international onshore vocational education and training (VET) graduates in 2022, compared with 2021 … In mid-2022, 83.0% of international onshore VET qualification completers were employed after training, an increase of 7.5 percentage points from the previous year.”
That’s not the end of the story. The report, entitled ‘International onshore VET qualification completer outcomes 2022,’ has a number of other useful findings as well. This is relevant as the international onshore student market recovers post-COVID.
About 72% of international students mainly undertook training in Australia for employment-related reasons, with the most cited reason being to develop or start their own business (23%). Other reasons included improving their general education skills (about 16.5%) or gaining extra skills for their current job (about 15%).
According to NCVER’s media release on this work, “the report also shows that the percentage of international onshore VET qualification completers reporting an improved employment status after training increased by 8.9 percentage points from 2021, reaching 73%. Indeed, “before beginning their training in Australia, about 76% of international VET qualification completers held a job. Of these, nearly 19% were employed at a higher skill level and about 41% were employed in a better job after training, “up 4.4 and 4.8 percentage points respectively from 2021.”
The news was also good for those international students who were not employed because, “those who did not have a job before training experienced significant improvements in their employment outcomes.”
NCVER’s Managing Director Simon Walker in their media release said that, “in 2022, 66.1% of individuals who were not employed before training secured a job afterwards, which represents an increase of 7.4 percentage points from 2021, and 21.5 percentage points from 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Levels of satisfaction
Satisfaction levels have remained high and, as reported in 2022:
- 87.2% were satisfied with the training overall, up 1.8 percentage points from 2021, and
- nearly 83% are likely to recommend their training provider, up 2.0 percentage points from 2021.
Online learning was a big feature of delivery during COVID and it was reported that, during their training, about 91% undertook learning online. Of these:
- 85.6% were satisfied with the support received from teachers/trainers during online learning, and
- 83.2% were satisfied with the overall quality of their online experience, while
- 43.3% faced at least one challenge with online learning.
There are barriers, though
As the report points out: “Of those looking for work at some stage after training, 82.3% faced at least one barrier when looking for work, down 7 percentage points from 2021.” Of these, the two most commonly cited barriers were:
- lack of jobs due to COVID-19 (37%), down 14.1 percentage points from 2021 and,
- those who did not have a required permanent residency/work visa (about 33%), down 4.7 percentage points from 2021.
Another significant issue includes insufficient work experience.
Undertaking further study?
In 2022:
- 49.5% of international onshore qualification completers enrolled in further study after training, down about 5 percentage points from 2021, and
- 48.5% enrolled in further study after training in Australia, down about 4.5 percentage points from 2021.
Other products
In addition to the report and media release, VDC News readers can also access a databuilder, which “provides extensive data on the outcomes of international students who completed a nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET) qualification in Australia” during 2022.
