Employers, have your say about Australia's training system

27 February 2007

A nation wide survey of employers, which aims to measure how effectively the national training system meets their needs, will get underway today.

The Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET System will help to shape future training policy.

Managed by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), the national survey seeks to collect information from 5000 employers across Australia about how they make sure that their employees have the right skills.

' While participating in the survey is voluntary, I strongly encourage employers to participate and tell us what is working and what is not. The more responses we get the better, as this will provider a clearer picture of the skill needs of Australian employers and the ways they use training to meet these needs.' says Dr Tom Karmel, Managing Director, NCVER.

Information from the survey will be used to:

• gain a greater understanding of the skill needs of industry and whether the VET sector is meeting these needs
• identify areas in which skill requirements are increasing
• monitor how employers use training and what they think of it.

The Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET System is being conducted and funded on behalf of the Australian, state and territory governments. Results from the survey will be published on NCVER's website in late 2007. The results from the 2005 survey are available at NCVER's website www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1667.html

ENDS

For media enquiries or further information: Anna Payton, Marketing Officer or Colleen Young, Manager, Marketing Services on +61 8 8230 8400.