NCVER is to be congratulated for both the details, and the way they are reported, in their latest publication. This time they are helping the sector understand VET completion rates – in VET qualification completion rates 2024.
There is good news for the sector in the report, as well as insights which the sector and providers will be able to use to make further improvements to qualification completion rates.
The good news includes:
- increases in VET completions over four years since 2016 (up from 44% in 2016 to 49% in 2024)[1]
- between 2019 and 2020 there was an increase in completion rates of 1.5% for all students and an even higher increase for regional and remote students (1.8%) in the same period
qualification completion rates being achieved by students in the natural and physical sciences (67.5%) than other students. This raises the question (for future research) as to whether these results arise from differences in the students studying science or in the way these qualifications are structured and taught?
Students commencing in 2020 in the following fields have the lowest completion rates:
- architecture and building (44.9%)
- IT (44.3%)
- engineering and related technologies (43.1%)
- agriculture, environmental and related studies (40%), and
- Mixed field programs (34.2%).
Once again it would be interesting to understand if this is due to specific characteristics of the students who enrol in these programs, or in the way these qualifications are structured and taught?
Unsurprisingly students undertaking diploma and higher qualifications had much higher completion rates (55.5%), while students undertaking Certificate I programs had the lowest completion rates (40.4%).
Providers will be able to use the NCVER data to compare their own completion rates over 1, 2, 3 and 4 years. They will also be able to see if their key priority cohorts and their students in different fields align with the national average or differ, and then think about what that means in terms of potential improvements they may be able to make.
A final note of concern for the broader VET sector and individual providers is the decline in completion rates for students with disability – they were the only cohort of students whose completion rates declined between those starting in 2019 and those commencing in 2020 (down -0.3%).
[1] 2016 is the first year reliable completions rates can be calculated for all VET students undertaking qualifications – because the sector only collected full comprehensive data on Total VET Activity in 2015.
