VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education. Can the minister inform the house of the latest available information on the number of students attending vocational education and training courses in South Australia?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:46): I thank the member for Torrens for her question. I can inform the house that new data released in recent weeks shows a strong rise in vocational education and training participation in South Australia. Statistics released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research indicate that both subject enrolments and delivery hours increased significantly in South Australia in 2009.

The number of VET hours delivered last year increased by 11.4 per cent from 2008, a rise of 2.9 million hours, to a total of 28 million hours. This figure is well above the national increase in delivery hours of 7.3 per cent. The number of VET enrolments in South Australia during 2009 increased by 45,000 to 870,200, up by 5½ per cent from 2008 and above the national average increase of 4.9 per cent. The most recent available data shows that the number of VET course completions in 2008 increased by 18.4 per cent (or 4,300) on the 2007 figure to 28,100; again, well above the national average increase of 10.1 per cent.

These figures follow yesterday's release of ABS statistics showing that between 2007 and 2009 international student enrolments in the South Australian VET sector trebled from 2,961 to 8,919, which is a higher average annual rate than any other sector of education. It is timely to remind members that the state's total income from international students last year was $990 million, which accounted for 9.6 per cent of our total exports. This is more than treble the income in 2002, when the government came into office, and represents an annual average growth of 18.9 per cent.

The total number of students undertaking VET across the state in 2009 was 121,900. This is slightly lower than the 2008 figure because data from the Workers' Education Association of South Australia, which is a very good organisation, was not included in the 2009 NCVER report but was recorded in previous data. If the WEA data was included in 2009, is it is estimated that the student numbers would have been approximately 127,800, an increase of 2 per cent compared with a 0.4 per cent increase nationally. In 2009, South Australia had 302 registered training organisations delivering training across 800 locations, including 47 TAFE SA campuses, 168 Adult Community Education sites, and 585 private colleges.