The number of Australian adult and community education (ACE) students have rebounded by 15.2%, according to data released by the NCVER today. ACE “Total VET” student numbers increased from 390,185 in 2020 to 449,500 in 2021.
In 2021, 4.3 million students were enrolled in nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET), an increase of 9.0% compared with 2020.
In 2021, 3,186,795 students (74.1%) enrolled in nationally recognised training at private training providers, 778,300 (18.1%) at TAFE institutes, 449,500 (10.5%) at community education (ACE) providers, 114,100 (2.7%) at schools, 107,000 (2.5%) at enterprise providers and 75,600 (1.8%) at universities.
ACE students by state and territory in 2021
| State/Territory |
2019 (#) |
2020 (#) |
2021 (#) |
Change 2020 to 2021 (%) |
| New South Wales |
206,940 |
167,100 |
168,835 |
1.0 |
| Victoria |
84,610 |
55,955 |
78,085 |
39.5 |
| Queensland |
42,380 |
34,435 |
37,510 |
8.9 |
| South Australia |
49,545 |
38,235 |
46,760 |
22.3 |
| Western Australia |
84,895 |
77,530 |
84,415 |
8.9 |
| Tasmania |
4,250 |
3,845 |
20,545 |
534.3 |
| Northern Territory |
9,105 |
8,030 |
9,535 |
18.7 |
| Australian Capital Territory |
8,935 |
5,235 |
4,290 |
-18.0 |
| Offshore |
115 |
205 |
225 |
9.8 |
| Totals |
490,345 |
390,185 |
449,515 |
15.2 |
Source: NCVER 2022, Total VET students and courses 2021: students DataBuilder
NCVER Data in 2021
- 3529 registered training organisations (RTOs) delivered nationally recognised VET.
- Of these RTOs, 197 were ACE (community education) providers, with 69 headquartered in NSW, 72 in VIC, 24 in QLD, 8 in SA, 10 in WA, 5 in TAS, 3 in NT and 6 in ACT.
- An estimated 24% of the Australian resident population aged 15 to 64 years participated in nationally recognised VET in Australia.
- 5% of students enrolled in training package qualifications were government-funded.
- 4% of students enrolled in subjects not delivered as part of a nationally recognised program were domestic fee-for-service funded.
- Private for-profit student numbers continue to dominate the VET sector, with 3,186,795 students in 2021, a 12.5% increase on 2832740 in 2020.
- By contrast, TAFE numbers dropped marginally (by 1.9%) from 2020 to 2021, from 792,725 to 778,280. This was especially notable in New South Wales, down by 16%, with every other state TAFE (except South Australia) student numbers increasing.
CCA Comment
“This is excellent news that Australian ACE providers have begun to recover student numbers in 2021, following a disastrous drop from 2019 to the 2020, the first pandemic year. This follows the government-funded VET numbers, which increased from 2020 to 2021 by 7.9%. Particularly important is the recovery in Victoria, by almost 40%. The total ACE VET numbers still have a way to go to reach the 2019 pre-pandemic high of 490,345 students, however. This reinforces the continuing importance of state government contract flexibility and support for ACE providers. We are keen to see systematic programs that fund outreach to and re-engagement of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged ACE students, many of whom have not returned to VET,” said Dr Don Perlgut, CCA CEO.
