VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING PERFORMING WELL

Minister for Education and Training Mr Andrew Barr MLA, today said a national report on the vocational education and training (VET) sector contained some strong results for the ACT and also highlighted opportunities for its continued success.

“The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services (ROGS) 2008 shows our ACT VET students performing either close to or at the top of the field nationally across many areas covered in the results,” Mr Barr says.

One of the most significant results showed the ACT leading the nation with 92.8% of VET graduates gaining employment or continuing further study after completing a VET course in 2006, compared with the national average of 87.8%.

For the same year, it also showed 84.9% of VET graduates who spoke a language other than English obtained employment and/or continued on to further study after completing a VET course (nationally 81.7%).

Additionally, 8.5% of the Territory’s working age population (15-64 years) participated in VET in 2006 (8.2% nationally) and 28.5% of VET students engaged in diploma or higher-level courses. This is the highest in the country and more than twice the national average of 11.7%.

“In November 2007 I opened the new Canberra Institute of Technology Vocational College. This again demonstrates the ACT Government’s commitment to the ongoing success of VET.

“With the ACT feeling the local impact of the national skills shortage, VET has assumed an even more important role than before and the ACT Government will continue to give its full support to vocational education and training.”