Increasing numbers of students are enrolling in full-time publicly funded training, with 34 800 more enrolments for full-time study last year (up 12.0% from 2011), according to national training statistics.
The steady rise is reported in the Australian vocational education and training statistics: Students and courses 2012, an annual national snapshot of student enrolments and training activity published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
“While the majority of students study part-time, the number of full-time students has increased over the past five years, with a marked increase last year”, said Ms Sandra Pattison, General Manager, Statistics, NCVER.
“There have also been sizable increases in student numbers, subject enrolments and hours of training delivery, and this points to systemic change in Australia’s training sector.”
Overall, the number of students across the country increased by 3.3% to 1.94 million in publicly funded training, total subject enrolments increased by 5.3% and total hours of training delivery increased by 9.0%.
The number of students enrolled at TAFE or another government provider remained largely stable with 1 257 600 student places (up 0.8% from 2011).
In comparison, the number of students enrolled with other registered training providers rose 14.1% to 550 700 enrolments, but enrolments with community education providers declined last year (down 11.6% to 115 000 places).
On the whole, the data show TAFE and other government providers supply nearly two-thirds (64.7%) of publicly funded training, while other registered training providers and community education providers supply the remaining 34.3% (28.3% and 5.9% respectively).
Copies of Australian vocational education and training statistics: Students and courses 2012 are available from www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2642.html
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