NCVER News #393

This being our last edition of NCVER News for 2016, we'd like to wish you a happy and safe holiday. Stay tuned for the first edition of NCVER News in 2017 which will arrive in your inbox on Wednesday 11 January.

Please note, our office will be closed from Saturday 24 December 2016 and will reopen on Tuesday 3 January 2017.

Now open: submit your abstracts for the 26^th National VET Research Conference ‘No Frills” by 5pm Monday 20 February 2017. Both oral and poster presentations can be submitted online through Abstract Warehouse.

In 2017 we’re exploring the theme Skilling for tomorrow, and presentations should align with one of the three streams:

• Explore: gaining a better understanding of education, training and employment, the people involved and interactions between these systems
• Translate: applying knowledge about education and training to improve practice, quality and outcomes
• Evolve: addressing the opportunities and challenges ahead to transform the sector to better meet future skill needs.

Each year we partner with a training provider so we can offer great value for money. Using their quality training facilities to stage the conference means we can keep registration costs down and provide a relaxed and casual conference atmosphere – perfect for networking.

Co-hosted with TasTAFE, our 2017 conference will be held in Hobart from Wednesday 5 to Friday 7 July.

Financing of government-funded VET

Financial information on Australia’s government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system for 2015 shows operating revenues increased 13.6% to $9812.4 million compared with 2014.

When comparing 2015 with 2014, revenue from the Australian Government increased by $1446.0 million (46.2%); revenue from state and territory governments decreased by $358.5 million (9.7%); and revenue from fee-for-service activities decreased by $22.3 million (1.9%).

Total operating expenditures decreased $433.5 million (5.7%) to $7143.3 million in 2015 compared with 2014.

To view the publication and our snapshot graphic see Financial information 2015

VET graduates show good job prospects

Australia’s first major vocational education and training (VET) graduate survey to include both Commonwealth and state funded students, and those who pay their own way reveals 77.6% of VET graduates are employed after training, with those employed full-time earning a median annual income of $56 000 per year.

Total VET graduate outcomes 2016 provides infographical information, publication and table formats on employment outcomes, satisfaction with training and further study patterns for almost 44,000 graduates who completed a qualification in 2015.

The new data show that 45.3% of those that weren’t employed before training are employed after, and 82.2% of graduates who undertook their training as part of an apprenticeship or traineeship were employed after training.

Four new literature reviews have been released as part of the Foundation Skills Literature Review Project, funded by NCVER as part of our commitment to building research capacity. Foundation skills include adult language, literacy and numeracy skills as well as employability skills, such as problem solving, collaboration and self-management. The main topic areas are:

• perspectives on adult language, literacy and numeracy
• policy contexts and measures of impact
• context and sites
• pedagogy and the learners workforce development.

For more information the publications can be viewed in the Foundation Skills pod in VOCEDplus, under NCVER focus.

Thank you for using NCVER's free international research database VOCEDplus and its services in 2016, it's been a busy year.

• 3,500+ new titles were added to VOCEDplus. There are now 73,000+ titles in the VOCEDplus repository.
• 200,000+ users from 200+ countries used the VOCEDplus website.
• 900+ document delivery requests were submitted by VOCEDplus users. Please note, the VOCEDplus document delivery and reference services will not be available during the holiday season from 24 December 2016 to 3 January 2017.
• The VOCEDplus Pod Network was launched. We have 20 Pods and 44 Podlets on key topics in VET. Keep an eye out for new podlets coming out in 2017.
• Three new ‘Focus on…’ pages were released: Digital disruption - jobs and Digital disruption - skills and training; Millennials; Parity of esteem.

RTO's, State Training Authorities and Boards of Study have validated more than 7.5 billion (yes billion!) records via our AVETMISS Validation Software.