If you’re from South Asia seeking a VET program from your home country, the visa issuance stats are against you (TKN 13/7/23). Whilst the student VET movement issue has been discussed at length regarding the process, no statistics haven’t been put around it to the Koala’s knowledge.
The Koala has done some digging.
Looking at May YTD data, let’s start at the top and use India as an example.
From India, 392 offshore VET visas were granted in the period year to date 31 May. The rate at which they were granted was 6.2%. This means there were over 6300 applications if the koala had done its sums right.
Onshore this was quite different, with 21,028 visas granted at a rate of 97%.
The Koala has looked at new (and old) student commencements in the VET sector by state, and it is quite remarkable, especially when compared with 2019 data. While the sector knows at a high level what was occurring, we now have insight into where.
The headline is how much new student commencements have grown by state in the VET sector from 2019 to 2023. These are:
NSW 161.2 per cent from 582 to 1520
VIC 116.3 per cent from 1407 to 3039
QLD 95.2 per cent from 484 to 945
SA 249.3 per cent from 270 to 943
WA 240.2 per cent from 199 to 677
TAS -13.0 per cent from 46 to 40
NT from 225.0 per cent from 8 to 26
ACT 118 per cent from 61 to 133
Regarding quantum, Victoria leads the pack while South Australia comes out on top in terms of percentage increase.
While new students in VET are going to be going gangbusters, the same can’t be said for the not new*. An increase in the ratio of commencements to enrolments for not new students was only seen by two states: Qld – 30.9 per cent in 19 to 33.0 per cent in 23; and NT – 29.7 per cent in 19 to 32.6 per cent in 23.
The data table, which was extracted from Austrade Pivot tables, can be seen below:
| State | New Student | 19 Enrolments | 23 Enrolments | 19 Commencements | 23 Commencements | Ratio Commencements of Enrolments 19 (%) | Ratio Commencements of Enrolments 23 (%) | Commencement increase: 19 to 23 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | No | 4100 | 11817 | 1406 | 3294 | 34.3 | 27.9 | 134.3 |
| Yes | 582 | 1520 | 582 | 1520 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 161.2 | |
| Total | 4682 | 13337 | 1988 | 4814 | 42.5 | 36.1 | 142.2 | |
| VIC | No | 10730 | 20202 | 4140 | 6401 | 38.6 | 31.7 | 54.6 |
| Yes | 1405 | 3039 | 1405 | 3039 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 116.3 | |
| Total | 12135 | 23241 | 5545 | 9440 | 45.7 | 40.6 | 70.2 | |
| QLD | No | 3217 | 4458 | 995 | 1470 | 30.9 | 33.0 | 47.7 |
| Yes | 484 | 945 | 484 | 945 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 95.2 | |
| Total | 3701 | 5403 | 1479 | 2415 | 40.0 | 44.7 | 63.3 | |
| SA | No | 1510 | 4488 | 452 | 1297 | 29.9 | 28.9 | 186.9 |
| Yes | 270 | 943 | 270 | 943 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 249.3 | |
| Total | 1780 | 5431 | 722 | 2240 | 40.6 | 41.2 | 210.2 | |
| WA | No | 1915 | 2952 | 616 | 940 | 32.2 | 31.8 | 52.6 |
| Yes | 199 | 677 | 199 | 677 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 240.2 | |
| Total | 2114 | 3629 | 815 | 1617 | 38.6 | 44.6 | 98.4 | |
| TAS | No | 728 | 1031 | 283 | 232 | 38.9 | 22.5 | -18.0 |
| Yes | 46 | 40 | 46 | 40 | 100.0 | 100.0 | -13.0 | |
| Total | 774 | 1071 | 329 | 272 | 42.5 | 25.4 | -17.3 | |
| NT | No | 37 | 178 | 11 | 58 | 29.7 | 32.6 | 427.3 |
| Yes | 8 | 26 | 8 | 26 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 225.0 | |
| Total | 45 | 204 | 19 | 84 | 42.2 | 41.2 | 342.1 | |
| ACT | No | 377 | 1625 | 156 | 332 | 41.4 | 20.4 | 112.8 |
| Yes | 61 | 133 | 61 | 133 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 118.0 | |
| Total | 438 | 1758 | 217 | 465 | 49.5 | 26.5 | 114.3 |
