Brendan O’Connor, the Minister for Skills and Training, has announced that the National Skills Agreement will focus on improving Vocational Education and Training (VET) completion rates, among other crucial industry concerns.
Talks to Boost VET Completion Rates Ahead of National Skills Agreement Negotiations
The 24 April 2025 TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) newsletter reported that during his recent visit to South Australia, the minister expressed concern over the just over 50% completion rate, which has remained stagnant for a decade.
VET completion rates have been a concern in Australia for some time now. However, the good news is that the Australian government is taking steps to address this issue by including VET completion rates as a critical element in the new National Skills Agreement.
O’Connor and state and territory ministers discussed the need for improving completion rates. They are exploring various methods to achieve this goal and plan to hold further discussions with industry and government stakeholders during the National Skills Agreement negotiations.
He emphasised the importance of gathering input from various sources to determine the best approach for addressing the issue, including information from government officials, industry experts, and other key stakeholders.
O’Connor also noted that investing in areas of emerging and current demand could help boost completion rates, as learners could see a clear path from their training to future job opportunities.
Additionally, increased engagement between industry and training providers, such as TAFEs, could give learners greater confidence in their skills and increase their chances of completing their apprenticeships.
The National Skills Agreement addresses various issues related to skills training in Australia, including the availability of training opportunities, the quality of movement, and the effectiveness of training programs.
Industry, government, and other stakeholders are negotiating the agreement they plan to implement in the coming years.
Ensuring learners have the knowledge and skills to succeed in the workforce depends on improving completion rates.
Focusing on increasing completion rates, the National Skills Agreement could significantly shape the future of VET in Australia.
Revolutionising VET Completion Rates: Can Machine Learning Be the Answer?
Recent research by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) suggests that machine learning could provide a more precise way to predict completion rates for VET qualifications.
The research compared the effectiveness of machine learning with the current Markov chains methodology for calculating projected completion rates for VET programs. The results showed that the machine learning model was more accurate for predicting completion rates for the 2016 cohort than the Markov chains method.
Using machine learning offers one of the main advantages of timeliness, as it enables the calculation of projections as soon as training providers submit enrolment data. However, this approach requires using four years of past training data to train the model.
Interestingly, while the machine learning models were more accurate, the current approach produced more precise completion rates for TAFE enrolments.
Successfully applying machine learning to predict VET completion rates could provide training providers and policymakers with more accurate and timely information to address the issue of low completion rates.
However, additional research is required to ascertain the feasibility and reliability of utilising machine learning.
The NCVER research is a promising step forward in this area, and researchers will need to conduct more studies to build on this initial work.
Conclusion: What the Latest VET Updates Mean for RTOs
The news means that Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in Australia should be aware of the increased focus on improving VET completion rates. The National Skills Agreement highlights this as a critical issue.
As an RTO, you must ensure that learners complete their qualifications successfully.
The government’s efforts to address the low completion rates indicate that they will be looking closely at RTOs’ training delivery methods, quality of education, and support mechanisms for learners.
Meanwhile, the potential use of machine learning to predict completion rates highlights the importance of data management for RTOs. Ensuring accurate and timely data submission will be crucial in providing the data required to train machine learning models and generate accurate completion rate projections.
Overall, RTOs like you must adapt to the changing landscape of VET completion rates and work towards improving completion rates to meet the government’s goals.
Check out our blog gallery for more VET industry updates and trends.
