Student Traffic: Two-Way Movement between Vocational Education and Training and Higher Education.

Abstract

The purpose of the study reported here was to investigate the extent and nature of the two-way traffic of students between vocational education and training (VET) and higher education institutions. The study used three different, but complementary sources of information: a comprehensive review of the literature; detailed analyses of existing data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST); and a questionnaire survey of all undergraduate students who commenced study in 2003 at all TAFE institutes, the three universities and a sample of private VET providers in South Australia. The study found that there was a high degree of consistency in the findings from the three sources of information. Despite the strong sense of difference between the sectors, almost three-quarters in both sectors reported feeling ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ comfortable moving from one sector to the other. Evidence suggests that it is in the transition from the VET sector to the higher education sector where the greatest degree of discomfort occurs. It was notable that the top 10 reasons for both sectors were the same (although with variations in ranking). Key messages arising from the study are: student movement within and between the tertiary education sectors - VET and higher education - is growing and complex; student motivation in both sectors is similar; and the transition from the higher education to the VET sector is smoother than the reverse.