Government-funded students and courses – January to June 2025

THIS PUBLICATION HAS BEEN SUPERSEDED.

For the most recent release please see the Government-funded students and courses collection page.

Purpose

This publication provides a summary of data relating to Australia’s government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system. Government funded VET is defined as all Commonwealth and state or territory government-funded training delivered by technical and further education (TAFE) institutes, other government providers (such as universities), private providers and community education providers.

Data for the Government-funded students and courses series are received in four cumulative submissions across the calendar year. This report covers the period of 1 January to 30 June 2025. Data will be revised following subsequent data submissions made to NCVER throughout the year.

Additional data are available in DataBuilder, VOCSTATS, and by request to NCVER.

This publication does not present data on Fee-Free TAFE. Data for this program are available from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Report

Overview

There were 866,055 students undertaking government-funded training in Australia in the period January to June 2025. This represents a decrease of 63,320 (6.8%) from the same period in 2024. Student numbers in all states and territories decreased except South Australia, which increased by 2,125 (3.8%) to 57,645.

The type of training undertaken can be categorised by the hierarchy shown in Figure 1. Each state/territory funds a different mix of training types to meet their jurisdictional needs.

Nationally recognised qualifications

Nationally recognised qualifications comprise the bulk of government-funded training, and include Training package qualifications and Accredited qualifications.

Student numbers

There were 792,915 students in nationally recognised qualifications in Australia in the period January to June 2025. This represents a decrease of 55,895 (6.6%) from the same period in 2024, but an increase of 68,195 (9.4%) from 2019. All states and territories decreased except South Australia, up 2,210 (4.4%) to 51,945, and Northern Territory, up 905 (11.0%) to 9,130.

The majority of the decline was seen at Certificate IV level (down 29,380 or 16.4%) and Certificate III level (down 21,520 or 4.8%).

Figure 2 presents a time-series of students enrolled in nationally-recognised qualifications, alongside the full annual cohort for comparison.

Student priority cohorts

In the January to June period, several priority cohorts decreased from 2024 to 2025, including females, full-time students, regional and remote students and those unemployed. All other priority cohorts increased. On the other hand, compared to the same period in 2019, all cohorts increased, with the exception of students who were unemployed.

Students by provider type

Nationally, the majority of students undertake government-funded qualifications at TAFE institutes. Compared with the same period in 2024, students enrolled at TAFE institutes and private training providers decreased 6.6% and 8.8% respectively.

Qualification enrolments

Students can enrol in one or more government-funded programs. In the January to June 2025 period, there were 845,075 enrolments in nationally recognised qualifications in Australia. This represents a decrease of 77,585 (8.4%) from the same period 2024. Qualification enrolments across all states and territories decreased, except in Northern Territory, up 830 (9.4%) to 9,650, and South Australia, up 2,060 (3.9%) to 55,015.

Qualification enrolments by intended occupation of training

Nationally, qualification enrolments in all occupational groups saw a decrease, with the largest decline seen in Clerical and administrative workers, down 26,040 (27.4%). This was largely driven by a decrease in New South Wales, where enrolments dropped 40.1%.

Qualification enrolments by training package

The training package with the highest number of enrolments was Community Services with 179,935, or 21.3% of all qualification enrolments, followed by Construction, Plumbing & Services Integrated Framework, with 87,930 (10.4%). Amongst the training packages with the largest enrolment changes, the only increase was seen in Electrotechnology, up 5,305 (9.5%) from the same period in 2024. The largest decrease was in Business Services, down 25,640 (31.7%). Compared with the same period in 2019, Community Services and Electrotechnology reported the largest growth.

Figure 7 presents the ten training packages with the largest absolute change nationally and for each state/territory.

The latest data on qualification completions is available in Government-funded students and courses 2024.

Other government-funded training

Data on other forms of training, including non-nationally recognised training, are available in the DataBuilder and VOCSTATS.