The NCVER has released data on student enrolments in government-funded VET for the first half of this calendar year. They have also introduced a number of new graphs and charts to represent the data visually and VDC News commends them for making this important data more readily accessible to the VET community.
The data shows shifting government priorities across different industry sectors as government-funded enrolments declined in some industries which are not national priorities, and there was a shift away from government-funding for non-recognised VET.
There were more than 860,000 government-funded students studying VET in the first half of this year. Compared with the first six months of 2024 the overall number of government-funded VET students was 6.5% fewer (-63,320 students), but an increase of nearly 10% (68,195) on 2019 levels.
Enrolments by students doing VET at school, Indigenous students, and students with a disability increased, although enrolments by females, students in regional areas, and students studying full-time declined.
Fee Free TAFE
Within the broader cohort of government-funded students, there are many students studying Fee Free courses at TAFE and in other providers. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations recently released data on enrolments in Fee Free TAFE (they are working on integrating the data into the NCVER collection).
It shows that between January 2023 (when Fee Free TAFE was introduced) and June 2025, students enrolled in Fee Free TAFE programs in the following national priority sectors:
- Care: 186,885 enrolments
- Technology and digital: 65,430
- Early childhood education and care: 53,345
- Construction: 52,785
- Hospitality and tourism: 26,255
Enrolments by students from priority cohorts between January 2023 and June 2025 included:
- Indigenous students: 41,925 enrolments
- People with disability: 56,730
- Job seekers: 166,845
- Women: 425,880
More than one-third (35%) of students studying Fee Free TAFE programs were aged 15-24 years, 46% were aged 25-44 years and 19% were aged 45 years and over.
Most students were enrolled in Certificate III (37%), Certificate IV (32%) and Diploma level and above (17%) courses.
