VET qualification completion rates 2025

Description

This publication provides data and insights on the proportion of students who complete nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET) qualifications.

Rates are reported as observed or projected.

• Observed rates track results within four years among cohorts starting qualifications from 2016 to 2021.
• Projected rates estimate future completions for cohorts starting in 2022 and 2023 who may still be in training.

Completion rates vary across states and territories, training packages, training providers, occupations, and student groups. Many factors influence whether a qualification is completed, including job requirements, student intention and circumstances, training quality, timetable flexibility, learner support, economic conditions and policy settings¹.

Reasons for completion and non-completion are not in scope of this publication, but are collected by NCVER as part of the Student Outcome Survey (SOS). Outcomes from short courses and stand-alone subject enrolments, which make up more than half of total VET student activity (53.4%) for 2021, are also outside the scope of this publication².

Figures in this publication may be filtered by the state/territory of student residence as at commencement and/or qualification level of education where possible. Additional rate data are available in Databuilder, and by request to NCVER.

Report

Observed completion rates

Overall

The completion rate (after four years) for all nationally recognised qualifications commencing in 2021 was 48.9%, down from 49.5% for those commencing in 2020, but higher than the four years prior.

By state and territory, VET qualification completion rates have been increasing year on year for students in South Australia and Western Australia. Completion rates for students living in South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory are currently at their highest levels since NCVER’s current completion rate reporting coverage began in 2016.

Declines in completion rates were observed in Victoria, and to a lesser extent in New South Wales and Queensland. Completion rates for students commencing in 2021 were likely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially in Victoria where VET delivery was affected by multiple periods of lockdown and restrictions to on-site learning.

Completion rates vary by qualification level, and are typically higher for qualifications at higher levels. As in prior commencing years, the highest completion rate for 2021-commencing qualifications was 56.7% for diploma-level or higher qualifications, and lowest for Certificate I qualifications, at 41.3%.

Average completion rates can vary substantially for individual qualifications (Figure 2). Most qualifications achieve an average completion rate of between 40-70 per cent. Compared with the 2020 commencing cohort, a slightly smaller proportion of 2021 commenced qualifications achieved completion rates below 40%, while a slightly larger proportion achieved completion rates above 60%.

Funding sources

Completion rates varied depending on the source of funding³. The completion rate (after four years) for 2021-commencing qualifications that were:

• Government funded was 48.9% (a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from 2020),
• Domestic fee-for-service was 44.8% (a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from 2020), and
• International fee-for-service was 62.6% (an increase of 2.4 percentage points from 2020).

The majority (57.2%) of qualifications delivered under international fee-for-service funding are at a diploma level or higher, which tend to have higher completion rates irrespective of the funding type. Nonetheless, international fee-for-service funded qualifications achieved higher completion rates across virtually all levels of education.

Domestic fee-for-service funded qualifications are more common at the Certificate IV and above levels which have relatively high completion rates, however non-completed Certificate II and III training tends to bring the overall completion rate down within this funding category. Qualifications at the Certificate I and II level are disproportionately government funded, which also tend to have lower completion rates.

Demographic cohorts

Outcomes for learner cohorts often targeted by policy-makers were mixed among those commencing qualifications in 2021.

Regional and remote learners reached their highest completion rate since 2016 at 45.1%, with remote and very remote students now performing similarly to regional cohorts, noting that regional commencements have fallen in recent years. Indigenous learners achieved a completion rate of 37.6%, also their highest since 2016, although a gap of more than 11 percentage points remains compared with non-Indigenous learners.

Several cohorts continued to outperform average VET qualification completion rates, despite declines relative to the 2020 cohort. For example, females remained around 3 percentage points more likely than males to complete a qualification, while learners aged 25 and under continued to outperform those aged 45 and over.

The completion rate for unemployed learners commencing in 2021 was 43.3%, a decline of 2.6 percentage points from 2020. It is possible that part of this change within the unemployed group was due to historically strong labour markets in late 2021 encouraging VET students to move out of study and into jobs⁴.

Priority occupations

Since 2022, Jobs and Skills Australia has produced an annual Occupation Shortage List to highlight occupations where employers are having difficulty finding suitably skilled workers. Understanding outcomes for VET qualifications linked to occupations experiencing skills shortages helps show whether training is producing workers for jobs that are in demand, noting that the skills and capabilities gained through training may be sufficient for certain jobs (without necessarily completing). Shown below are results for some selected priority occupations at the two digit ANZSCO level.

In 2021, both commencements and completion rates increased for electrotechnology-related qualifications. Improvements in the number of learners and their outcomes particularly within the key Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician qualification may help address ongoing electrician shortages and support construction, infrastructure and energy projects across Australia⁵.

Improvements in commencements and completion rates for the 2021 cohort were also seen among qualifications linked to skilled animal, agricultural and horticultural workers (including farmers, horticultural workers, and animal carers), as well as health and welfare support workers (including enrolled nurses, disability support, and community care workers).

Training package

Most nationally recognised VET qualifications undertaken in Australia fall under a training package. Training packages specify the training and assessment required for qualifications, and are designed to reflect industry-defined skills frameworks. Across all levels of education, the (four year) completion rate was highest for the 2021 commencing cohort among those studying qualifications in the Health (HLT) and Sport, Fitness and Recreation (SIS) training packages.

The Construction, Plumbing & Services Integrated Framework (CPC) training package was among the largest improvements relative to 2020 both in terms of completion rates (up 3.6 percentage points) and commencements (up 16.8%). This training package includes several key trade apprenticeships qualifications, such as the Certificate III in Carpentry and Certificate III in Plumbing, required to address ongoing skills shortages in Australia’s building and construction workforce.

Completion rates of qualifications in the Resources and Infrastructure (RII) and Transport and Logistics (TLI) training packages have been persistently low, particularly among domestic fee-for-service funded Certificate II and III qualifications. This may be influenced by reporting activity against qualifications for which learners only ever intend to complete a single subject (or smaller group of subjects) for regulatory compliance or professional development purposes.

Major qualifications

Table 1 below presents the largest qualifications by commencing enrolments for 2021, with commencements and completion rates for both 2020 and 2021. Nationally, the foundation skills Certificate II in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways qualification saw a substantial improvement in completion rates for 2021, led by secondary school-based enrolments in Queensland. Likewise, the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care qualifications increased in both completion rates and commencements relative to the 2020 cohort, particularly in Victoria.

A noticeable decline in completion rates for the Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice, which meets a regulatory requirement for real estate licensing/registration in some jurisdictions, coincided with a 17% increase nationally in commencing enrolments in this qualification, compared with 2020. The Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, which is a requirement to deliver training and assessment within the VET sector itself, also saw completion rates decline overall, where declines especially in New South Wales were offset only slightly by improvements in South Australia, the Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory.

Time to completion

Qualifications generally take between one to two years to complete, depending on the level of education. VET students predominantly study part-time, which can extend their training time further. Qualifications undertaken as part of a recognised apprenticeship or traineeship will often also take longer due to on-the-job learning requirements.

The trend towards increased time taken to complete a qualification (Table 2) has persisted into 2021. A clear break is evident in 2020 in the number of qualifications completed within the first year of enrolment at the Certificate III and IV levels and especially in Victoria, coinciding with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, this pattern was already occurring for all qualifications above a Certificate III level from 2016.

In contrast, the time to complete shorter Certificate I and II qualifications has remained roughly consistent with those observed five years ago. Almost 99% of completions have occurred three years after commencement for all cohorts.

Projected completion rates

Overall

Projected completion rates consist of both an observed component (qualifications that have already completed, i.e. ‘to date’) and an estimated component. The estimated component is the proportion of qualifications still in training that may complete based on similar activity. The more qualifications considered to still be active or ‘continuing’, the greater the proportion of estimated completions.

For the 2022 commencing year, around 2.4% of all qualification commencements appear still continuing, based on data submitted to NCVER as of December 31 2025, and are included in the projections. For the 2023 cohort, this figure is around 7.2% of qualifications still continuing, resulting in a higher proportion of projected training outcomes, relative to the observed completion rates to date. Projections for the 2023 commencing cohort are therefore less certain and subject to change as further data are received.

Based on the latest data received, the completion rate for:

• 2022-commencing qualifications is projected to be 50.9%, with 49.4% already completed, and
• 2023-commencing qualifications is projected to be 54.7%, with 50.2% already completed.

Both the 2022 and 2023 commencing year qualification completion rates to date already exceed those of the 2021 commencing cohort, and appear likely to increase beyond those of the 2020 cohort.