Access and Opportunity Investigating the roles of VET and University in Australia’s post -compulsory education system September 2018 Prepared for the Monash Commission
The VET sector is responsible for 74% of domestic post-compulsory education program enrolments 2016 domestic program enrolments by course type Source: Universities Australia and NCVER Note: Includes both commencing and returning enrolments. Where a single student has enrolled in two VET courses in one year, they are counted as one student. Statements of Attainment have been omitted. STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 2
There is constrained supply of AQF level 6 places, leading to a discontinuity in the levels of education available Domestic program enrolments by course type Associate degrees and advanced diplomas offer pathways between VET-level and university-level Certificate I study, and are therefore essential for social mobility, Certificate II but are still constrained by capped places. Certificate III It is possible that this constraint has led to the Certificate IV observed discontinuity in the distribution of Diploma enrolments across all AQF levels. Advanced Diploma, Associate Degree Students may be forced into an inappropriate level Bachelor degree of study, such as levels 5 or 7, when level 6 would Bachelor Honours Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma best suit their skills and aspirations Masters Degree Doctoral Degree Source: Universities Australia and NCVER Note: Includes both commencing and returning enrolments STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 3
The VET sector takes in relatively more mature-age students than universities Commencing student age distribution for Uni and VET 20 VET 18 Proportion of total commencing students students are older University on average 16 has a higher share of younger students 14 within Uni or VET (%) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 16 and 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 to 40 to 50 to 60 and under 39 49 59 over Student Enrolment Age Source: NCVER (2016) and Department of Education (2016) STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 4
Participation in publicly funded VET education among school leavers has declined in line with deregulation of the sector Commencing domestic enrolments by course type What drove the fall in publicly funded 17-20 year olds, publicly funded courses only Certificate-level courses? Was it VET FEE-HELP was predominantly a change in supply or introduced in 2007 for Diploma or higher and demand? priority Certificate IV courses Deregulation of VET and demand-driven university funding Source: NCVER and DET STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 5
The recent decline in VET among school-leavers has been felt most by TAFE providers and in school-based programs Commencing domestic VET enrolments by provider type 2014-2017 17-20 year olds, total VET activity TAFE and school-based Although places at private courses have been most training providers have adversely affected fallen, they have gone up as a share of the total 2014 | 2017 Source: NCVER STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 6
VET has a higher proportion of low SES domestic students compared to universities In 2016 of the university student 18% population were low SES versus 41% of VET students who were classified as disadvantaged 1 Source: Department of Education and Training and NCVER 1 Classified as high or extreme disadvantage by SEIFA status STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 7
VET institutions enrol a higher share of domestic regional and remote students and those with a non-English speaking background (2016) Regional and remote students account for 36% 20% of VET students are from a of VET enrolments non-English speaking background compared to versus 4% of university 20% students of university enrolments Source: Department of Education and NCVER STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 8
Most new VET students are upskilling rather than entering the labour force: they already employed and hold post-secondary qualifications Surveyed VET students by prior employment Education level of surveyed VET students status Source: National Student Outcomes Survey 2017 STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 9
Domestic VET students are more likely to have post-secondary qualifications than university graduates Highest educational attainment of commencing domestic VET students and university undergraduates in 2016 University Undergraduates 75% VET Students 63% Notably, only 10% of undergraduates 26% commencing in 11% 2016 came via a 10% 10% 4% VET pathway 1% Year 12 or lower VET Bachelor or higher Other education Highest prior educational attainment Commencing university undergraduates with incomplete VET or higher education qualifications are counted as Year 12 or lower. VET students with unknown prior education level excluded. Source: Universities Australia and NCVER STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 10
Pass rates are similar for VET and university, despite lower program completion rates among VET students Of domestic students who enrolled in 2012 Passing rates: VET and University 39.7% of VET students 86% completed their University subject pass rate program 85% 84% 44.2% of university students 83% had completed within 82% four years 81% VET subject pass rate and of those who enrolled in 2010 80% 66.0% 79% of university students had completed within 78% 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 six years Source: Department of Education and NCVER STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 11
VET students are more likely to drop out due to work-related reasons, while university students are more likely to report an expectations gap University VET Source: Andrew Harvey and Giovanna Szalkowicz (2015), From departure to Source: National Student Outcomes Survey (2017) arrival: Re-engaging students who have withdrawn from university STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 12
University graduates are more likely to be in full-time work, but less likely to report their qualification was important to their work Share of graduates by employment status Relevance of qualification to work Not at all important | Not that important | Important | Fairly important | Very important University VET University graduates Full-time 56.6% employed: 53.1% Training not relevant | Training relevant | In same occupation as training course 29.5% VET graduates Part-time 26.4% employed: 17.4% Unemployed 17.1% Source: Graduate Outcomes Survey (2017) and National Student Outcomes Survey (2017) Note: Employment rates are taken from the year after graduation STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 13
Student preferences are not changing dramatically for the majority of fields. The offer to application ratios have also been relatively steady. University applications by field – UG Domestic University offer-to-application ratio (2016) Society and culture High chance of offer Management and commerce Low chance of offer Source: Department of Education and Training STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 14
In line with policy priorities, STEM completions have increased 2.78% p.a. over 2001-2016, but outcomes have lagged in science and maths Domestic student completions by field of study Percentage of university bachelor-level graduates in full-time employment 60,000 Society and culture Medicine Health fields have the Pharmacy best employment Dentistry 50,000 outcomes , though Rehabilitation nursing outcomes are Health more moderate Teacher education Management and Veterinary science 40,000 commerce Engineering Nursing Business and management Architecture and built environment 30,000 Law and paralegal studies Education Computing and information systems Health services and support Natural and Social work 20,000 physical sciences Agriculture and environmental studies Science and Creative arts … Tourism, hospitality, personal services, mathematics Engineering and Humanities, culture and social sciences graduates have the related technologies 10,000 Communications second worst full- IT time employment rate Psychology Architecture/building of 59% in 2017 Science and mathematics Agriculture Creative arts 0 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Source: Department of Education uCube Source: Graduate Outcomes Survey (2017) STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 15
Graduate employment outcomes are still better in Australia compared to our international peers QS Graduate employment outcomes by country Source: QS Graduate Employability Rankings, 2018 Top 200 ranked institutions. Source data must be from an official government report, official university report, or supplied to QS as part of a complete list of graduates from the past complete academic year with their respective employers and date of employment STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHTS UNIT 16
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