Operating revenues for Australia’s government vocational education and training (VET) system decreased by 8.3% in 2017 to $7496.9 million when compared with 2016, according to new data released today by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

Financial information 2017 gives an account of how the government VET sector is financed, based on data provided by the Australian, state and territory government departments responsible for administering government funds for Australia’s VET system.

When comparing 2017 with 2016, revenue from the Australian Government decreased by $743.0 million (22.2%) and revenue from fee-for-service activities decreased by $158.3 million (13.7%), while revenue from state and territory governments increased by $247.9 million (8.6%).

Total operating expenditures increased $447.2 million (6.3%) to $7518.5 million in 2017 compared with 2016.

The report also includes information on VET loan payments, trends for operating revenues and expenditures, operating expenditure by VET activity, and assets and liabilities. State and territory breakdowns are also included.

Australian vocational education and training statistics: financial information 2017 and related resources are available from https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/collection/vet-finance

A new National VET Funding Collection was introduced in 2017 to replace the National VET Finance Collection. It is being phased in gradually over three years, with full implementation in 2020.

The first report from the new collection Australian vocational education training statistics: funding information 2017 will be released later this year. It will provide insight into the flow of funding in the public VET sector and report on what is funded and how funding is distributed.