Letter to the editor of the Herald Sun
1 June 2004
Let’s talk factually about Australia’s national vocational education and training (VET) system. (Herald Sun May 29)
Today, more than one in eight working age Australians (1.7 million people) are undergoing publicly funded skills training in that system, including more than 400,000 apprentices in areas from multimedia to childcare. Almost 200,000 secondary school students are including skills education and training in their final years of school. The Australian National Training Authority administers around $1.1 billion of Australian Government VET funds, to which states and territories add more than $2.6 billion.
Qualifications are now national, and skill sets can be mixed and matched to meet a student or an employers’ need for skills. Flexible training products and services are delivered in classrooms, workplaces, online, and in metropolitan, regional and remote locations by 4000 private and public training providers. Our research and our links with industry keep the training system on top of the changing world of work.
We know that Australians will increasingly change jobs and careers and VET meets these needs with skill development that comes in short, sharp, practical bursts or whole qualifications that can overlap industry areas and even provide credit towards university degrees.
In the global marketplace of 2004, successful employers know they have to invest in the skills and productivity of their people to survive and thrive. Australian employers spent 52 per cent more on structured training in 2001-2002 than they did in 1996.
And the final word goes to those employers. Research from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research 
shows that almost 70 per cent of employers of recent VET graduates are satisfied that VET is giving graduates the skills employers need.
David Hind
Chair
ANTA Board
(ANTA is the Australian Government statutory authority established to give a national focus to VET.)