Government-funded students and courses – January to September 2025

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 September 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.

While Fee-Free TAFE activity falls within scope of reporting, it is not separately collected and therefore cannot be identified in the data. Data for this program are available from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Report

Overview

There were 1,027,380 students undertaking government-funded training in Australia in the period January to September 2025. This represents a decrease of 72,225 (6.6%) from the same period in 2024. Student numbers in all states and territories decreased except South Australia (up 2,615 (4.0%) to 67,915), and Western Australia, (up 1,875 (1.6%) to 118,190).

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 925,600 students in nationally recognised qualifications in Australia in the period January to September 2025. This represents a decrease of 68,840 (6.9%) from the same period in 2024, but an increase of 48,430 (5.5%) from 2019. All states and territories decreased except South Australia, up 2,565 (4.4%) to 60,525, Western Australia, up 770 (0.7%) to 104,660 and Northern Territory, up 1,440 (15.2%) to 10,875.

The majority of the decline was seen at Certificate IV level (down 33,430 or 15.3%) and Certificate III level (down 29,790 or 5.7%).

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 September period, several priority cohorts increased from 2024 to 2025, including students with a disability, Indigenous students, and students at school. All other priority cohorts declined. 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 6.5% and 9.5% respectively.

Qualification enrolments

Students can enrol in one or more government-funded programs. In the January to September 2025 period, there were 1,019,080 enrolments in nationally recognised qualifications in Australia. This represents a decrease of 97,500 (8.7%) from the same period 2024. Qualification enrolments across all states and territories decreased, except in South Australia, up 1,905 (3.0%) to 65,290, Western Australia, up 245 (0.2%) to 114,670 and Northern Territory, up 1,535 (15.0%) to 11,795.

Qualification enrolments by intended occupation of training

Nationally, qualification enrolments in all occupational groups saw a decrease, with the largest decline seen in Community and Personal Service Workers, down 29,830 (8.8%) followed by Clerical and Administrative Workers, down 28,315 (25.3%). The decline in Clerical and Administrative Workers was mostly driven by the 37.1% decrease in New South Wales.

Qualification enrolments by training package

The training package with the highest number of enrolments was Community Services with 216,760, or 23.6% of all training package qualification enrolments, followed by Construction, Plumbing & Services Integrated Framework, with 100,315 (10.9%). Amongst the training packages with the largest enrolment changes, the only increase was seen in Electrotechnology, up 5,055 (7.9%) from the same period in 2024, whereas the largest decrease was in Business Services, down 27,445 (29.1%). 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.