Student Outcomes Survey

The Social Research Centre (SRC), a national social research company, conducts the Student Outcomes Survey on NCVER's behalf.

If you would like more information about any aspect of this survey, the staff at SRC will be happy to answer your questions. Please contact them by:

Telephone: 1800 413 992 within Australia (free call).

Email: soshelpdesk@srcentre.com.au

Mail:

Student Outcomes Survey
c/o SRC
Level 5, 350 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3051

2024 Student Outcomes Survey: Frequently asked questions

• What is the survey?
• Why is it conducted?
• What information is collected?
• Who is included and when?
• What survey results are available?

What is the survey?

The Student Outcomes Survey is an annual survey that collects information on vocational education and training (VET) students’ reasons for training, their employment outcomes, satisfaction with training, and further study outcomes. The survey covers students who completed nationally recognised VET delivered by registered training organisations (RTOs) in the previous calendar year.

Who is doing the survey?

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) - a not-for-profit company owned by the State, Territory and Federal ministers responsible for VET, manage the survey.

Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations - the government department funding the survey. The department uses the results to assist students to make informed training decisions and to develop government policy to help employers and industry.

The Social Research Centre (SRC) - a national social research company that conducts the survey on NCVER's behalf.

Back to questions

Why is it conducted?

The aim of the Student Outcomes Survey is to improve the social and economic outcomes of students who undertake VET. This is achieved by providing the VET sector with information on students’ reasons for training, their employment outcomes, satisfaction with training, benefits of the training and further study outcomes.

The information is used by national and state/territory bodies, along with local training providers, to ensure vocational training is of a high quality and relevant to Australian workplaces. The survey highlights both the positive and negative outcomes from training and monitors the effectiveness of the VET system. The information collected assists in administering, planning, and evaluating the VET system.

Back to questions

What information is collected?

Copies of the 2024 questionnaire are available to download.

Back to questions

Who is included and when?

Who is included in the survey?

The survey covers domestic students aged 15 years and over and is designed to report by the following student groups.

• Qualification completers – students who completed a training package qualification or accredited qualification.
• Qualification part-completers – students who enrolled in but only completed part of a training package qualification or accredited qualification (and are no longer undertaking that training).
• Short course completers – students who completed a training package skill set or accredited course.
• Short course part-completers – students who enrolled in but only completed part of a training package skill set or accredited course (and are no longer undertaking that training).
• Subject(s) only completers – students who completed one or more subjects not delivered as part of a nationally recognised program and who are no longer undertaking training in the VET sector.

For parents/guardians of 15 to 17 year old students

Your child may be selected to participate in this important national survey about the training they undertook in 2023. By taking part in this survey, your child can contribute to improving the education experience for future students by enhancing training, student services, and facilities.

The Social Research Centre may contact your child via posted letter, email, text message, or phone to invite them to participate. By completing the survey, your child has the opportunity to win a share of $40,000 in Visa gift card in the weekly prize draws.

There is a question at the end of the survey for students in South Australia aged 15 to 17 years seeking parental consent to be entered into the prize draw, as this is a legal requirement for those aged under 18 years in South Australia. By selecting ‘Yes’, your child is confirming they have your consent to enter the prize draw.

Rest assured that if your child chooses to complete the survey, all their answers are confidential. For more details about how their personal information will be managed and protected, please refer to the privacy notice. You can also view the prize draw terms and conditions and can find answers to other frequently asked questions on this page.

Thank you for supporting your child’s participation in this valuable survey!

When is the survey conducted?

The survey cycle begins in March and has three main stages: project preparation, fieldwork, and data analysis and reporting.

Project preparation (March to June)

• NCVER selects the sample of students. Contact details of selected students are then provided directly to the fieldwork contractor by NCVER, State Training Authorities or the Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar (OSIR).

Fieldwork (June to August)

• Personalised survey invitations are sent in June. Invitations are sent via email, SMS or hard-copy letter, depending on the availability of contact details. Survey invitations include a unique login code and/or link for accessing the online survey.
• Email and SMS reminders are sent to those students with a valid email address and/or mobile number who haven’t responded to the survey at various times. A hard-copy reminder is sent to non-responders with a mailing address approximately three weeks and/or six weeks after the initial invitation.
• Telephone interviews are conducted with a selection of those who haven't responded from July.

Data analysis and reporting (September to March)

• After completion of fieldwork, quality checks are conducted and data are analysed and reported.

Back to questions

What survey results are available?

What information is available to training providers?

Where enough responses are received to provide accurate results, eligible RTOs can receive an individual report on employment outcomes, training satisfaction, perceived benefits and relevance of training as reported by their students (alongside state/territory and national results for comparison). The 2024 survey is designed, subject to response rates, to provide data for RTOs who in 2023 had:

• 100 or more qualification completers
• 100 or more short course completers
• 550 or more qualification part completers
• 250 or short course part completers
• 550 or more subject(s) only completers.

Reports for RTOs are provided to authorised people at each RTO by February of the following year. For further information on how RTOs can access the 2023 report showing their students’ aggregated responses, see SOS RTO reports.

How can I improve the survey responses for my training provider?

To help improve the quality of data, training providers can promote the survey to current and former students. The survey promotional kit includes logos, text and promotional images you can use in newsletters or on social media.

What information on VET students' satisfaction and outcomes is available to the general public?

The aggregate results of the Student Outcomes Survey are presented in the following publications.

• VET student outcomes: published in December of the survey year.
• Apprentice and trainee outcomes: published in March of the following year.
• International onshore VET qualification completer outcomes: Published in April of the following year. The international component of the survey was last funded in 2023.

All publications and products are available free of charge on NCVER's portal, see Student outcomes. A suite of supporting information is also provided on the publication pages on NCVER's Portal.

For further information about the Student Outcomes Survey, contact surveys_req@ncver.edu.au.

Requests for more detailed statistical information can be made to NCVER via vet_req@ncver.edu.au.

A charge will generally be made by the NCVER for more complex requests for information. See the data access and charging policy.

Additional information is made available to various stakeholders including the Australian Government and state/territory education and training departments.

Back to questions

2024 Student Outcomes Survey: Privacy collection notice

• About the survey
• Survey participation
• The information collected
• Protection and management of your information
• Further information

About the survey

Why the Student Outcomes Survey is conducted

The purpose of the Student Outcomes Survey is to gather information to improve the social and economic outcomes of students who undertake vocational education and training (VET), help students make informed training decisions, and assist training providers and governments to improve the quality and relevance of the training.

Who funds, conducts and manages the Student Outcomes Survey

The survey is funded by the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

NCVER is contracted to manage the survey and analyse and publish the survey results. NCVER engages The Social Research Centre (SRC) to conduct the online survey and telephone interviews.

Back to questions

Survey participation

Although participating in the survey is voluntary, your contribution to improving the relevance and quality of VET is greatly valued. It is also important that the results represent all students, even if you didn’t complete your training, your training was only short, or if you did your training through your workplace.

I don't want to participate in the 2024 survey

To opt out of the 2024 Student Outcomes Survey and not receive future communications about it, please telephone the survey helpline on 1800 413 992 (free call within Australia) or email soshelpdesk@srcentre.com.au.

Back to questions

The information collected

What information is collected?

Your name and contact details are provided to SRC via a secure file exchange portal by government departments responsible for training, by the Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar (OSIR) or by NCVER. Your contact details are used to invite you to participate in the survey. SRC works with a small number of external service providers to administer the Student Outcomes Survey. Companies providing printing, email and messaging services will be provided with your contact information for the sole purpose of administering the survey. All companies contracted by SRC comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

On completion of the survey fieldwork, SRC does not give your name or contact details to NCVER, only a data set of all the information collected. Please note that NCVER can identify you from the data set collected, notwithstanding that your name and contact details will not be provided to NCVER by SRC. SRC and the companies providing printing, email and messaging services destroy records of your name and contact details at the conclusion of the survey.

Other information collected through the survey relates to your satisfaction with the training, additional study and work situation.

Responses to the survey will be linked with personal and training data provided by your training provider. This may include sensitive information from your enrolment form. This allows the questionnaire to be shortened as we do not need to ask specific details about you or your training.

Where your information is held

SRC stores your personal information on secure servers located within Australia.

After the SRC provides your information to NCVER, NCVER stores the data within Australia with appropriate levels of security.

Collection and use of your personal information

Your personal information is collected for the purpose of administering the Student Outcomes Survey and related purposes, including:

• To produce statistics and research relating to education. This may involve combining your information with other sources of data to help policy makers and researchers gain a better understanding VET sector performance, support critical policy and other decision making, and shed light on evolving VET sector priorities. This is known as data integration.
• To understand how the VET market operates.
• To invite you to participate in a survey.

Disclosure of your personal information and the collected data

If we disclose personal information, we do so only as permitted by the Privacy Act, and the National VET Data Policy.

We may disclose your personal information where:

• you have agreed
• you would reasonably expect, or have been told, that we may disclose information in a particular circumstance or to a particular person or organisation
• it is required or authorised by law.

Further to this, the National VET Data Policy authorises us to disclose personal information for:

• administering VET, including program administration, regulation, monitoring and evaluation
• facilitating statistics and research relating to education, including surveys and data linkage
• understanding how the VET market operates, for policy, workforce planning and consumer information.

Your personal information and other collected data are disclosed for the above purposes to the following recipients and in the following manner.

• NCVER publishes the data at the aggregate level and discloses aggregate, de-identified or identified unit record data to Commonwealth and state/territory government education and training departments.
• Commonwealth and state/territory government education and training departments may publish the data at the aggregate level, and the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations also publishes aggregate data on their Your Career website for access by students, the public and training providers.
• NCVER may provide summary reports to training providers that show aggregated responses, and training providers may publish this information on their own websites.
• De-identified unit record files may be provided to training providers and researchers requesting data for purposes related to facilitating research and statistics on education. Such requests are assessed on a case-by-case basis and are only provided under strict terms and conditions.

Back to questions

Protection and management of your information

The Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, NCVER, SRC, and OSIR manage personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act including the Australian Privacy Principles.

Any person in the European Union (EU) who participates in this survey is considered to have opted in by their own choice. They should be aware that while NCVER fully complies with the Australian Privacy Act, including the Australian Privacy Principles, and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, which have similar requirements to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), NCVER may not at this time, comply with all GDPR requirements.

For more information on how your personal information is handled, including how to seek access to, or correction of, your personal information and how to make a complaint about a breach of your privacy, please refer to the relevant Privacy Policies. Full details of each are displayed on the respective websites:

The Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relation's privacy policy

NCVER's privacy policy

SRC’s privacy policy

OSIR's privacy policy

Back to questions

Further information

Who to contact

For general queries about the survey, please contact the Student Outcomes Survey Helpline on 1800 413 992 (free call within Australia) or email soshelpdesk@srcentre.com.au.

This includes queries or complaints concerning your personal information, or if you wish to request access to or correction of your personal information. Correction of your personal information can only be made while the survey is being conducted and for the purpose of administering the survey as records of your name and contact details are destroyed once the survey is concluded.

Back to questions

2024 Student Outcomes Survey: Prize draw terms and conditions of entry

• Method and duration of entry period
• Duration of entry period
• Details of prizes and prize values
• Date, time and place of draw
• Publication of winner names and unclaimed prizes
• Cancellation clause
• Privacy
• Traders name and permit numbers
• Who to contact if you have any queries

Method and duration of entry period

Method of entry

Entry is open to all respondents of the 2024 Student Outcomes Survey. To enter, those invited to complete the 2024 Student Outcomes Survey must complete the survey online at www.ncver.edu.au/sos/login or by telephone interview. This is not restricted to any age-group and may include those under 18 years (15-17 year olds).

Entry into the draw for persons in South Australia aged under 18 years (on the date of the survey launch), will be subject to confirmation of parental consent via response to a question in-survey.

Duration of entry period

The total entry period for inclusion in the Prize Draw is from survey launch on 3^rd June 2024 to 11.59pm 11^th August 2024. Ten prize draws will occur during this period, with the following schedule

• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 12^th June 2024 will be entered into prize draws #1 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 19^th June 2024 will be entered into prize draws #2 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST  26^th June 2024 will be entered into prize draws #3 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 3^rd July 2024 will be entered into prize draws #4 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 10^th July 2024 will be entered into prize draws #5 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 17^th July 2024 will be entered into prize draws #6 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 24^th July 2024 will be entered into prize draws #7 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 31^st July 2024 will be entered into prize draws #8 - #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 7^th August 2024 will be entered into prize draw #9 and #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in each draw.
• Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 11^th August 2024 will be entered into prize draw #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in the draw.

Back to questions

Details of prizes and prize values

Prize draws will occur weekly from the 14^th June 2024. The first entry drawn in each of the ten prize draws will receive a $1,000 prepaid Visa gift card. The second and third entries drawn in each prize draw will receive a $500 Visa gift card. The final eight entries drawn in each prize draw will each receive a $250 Visa gift card. The total value of the prize pool is $40,000.

Each prize draw is comprised of the following:

Back to questions

Date, time and place of draw

• Prize Draw #1: 2:00 pm AEST 14^th June 2024
• Prize Draw #2: 2:00 pm AEST 21^st June 2024
• Prize Draw #3: 2:00 pm AEST 28^th June 2024
• Prize Draw #4: 2:00 pm AEST 5^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #5: 2:00 pm AEST 12^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #6: 2:00 pm AEST 19^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #7: 2:00 pm AEST 26^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #8: 2:00 pm AEST 2^nd August 2024
• Prize Draw #9: 2:00 pm AEST 9^th August 2024
• Prize Draw #10: 2:00 pm AEST 16^th August 2024

All draws will be conducted at Level 5, 350 Queen Street Melbourne VIC 3000. Winners will be identified through a manual draw.

Back to questions

Publication of winner names and unclaimed prizes

Publication of winner names

Winners will be notified by telephone and in writing via email, then by telephone within seven days of the relevant draw. The names and state of residence of all winners will be published online at www.ncver.edu.au/sos. The following dates are when the winners will be published on the website:

• Prize Draw #1: by 2:00 pm AEST 18^th June 2024
• Prize Draw #2: by 2:00 pm AEST 25^th June 2024
• Prize Draw #3: by 2:00 pm AEST 2^nd July 2024
• Prize Draw #4: by 2:00 pm AEST 9^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #5: by 2:00 pm AEST 16^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #6: by 2:00 pm AEST 23^rd July 2024
• Prize Draw #7: by 2:00 pm AEST 30^th July 2024
• Prize Draw #8: by 2:00 pm AEST 6^th August 2024
• Prize Draw #9: by 2:00 pm AEST 13^th August 2024
• Prize Draw #10: by 2:00pm AEST 20^th August 2024

Unclaimed prize draw

If any prizes are unclaimed by 29^th November, 2024 an unclaimed prize draw will take place at 2.00 PM AEDT on 29^th November 2024 at the above address.  Winners will be notified in writing via email within seven days.  The names of all winners will be published at www.ncver.edu.au/sos by 2.00PM AEDT 3^rd December 2024.

Back to questions

Cancellation clause

If for any reason any aspect of this Promotion is not capable of running as planned, including by reason of computer virus, communications network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failure or any cause beyond the control of the Promoter, the Promoter may in its sole discretion cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Promotion and invalidate any affected entries, or suspend or modify a prize, subject to State or Territory regulation.

Back to questions

Privacy

Contact details will only be collected and retained by “the Trader” for the purposes of the prize draw only and will not be released or used for any other purpose. Except for the announcement of the winning entries, all confidentiality will be retained and records in relation to the draw will be destroyed within State and Commonwealth Government requirements.

Back to questions

Traders name and permit numbers

Traders name and address

The trader is the Social Research Centre Pty Ltd, Level 5, 350 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3051. ABN: 91096153212.

Permit numbers

NSW Permit number: TP/0189

ACT Permit number: TP 23/00964  (until 30 June 2024);  TP 24_00728 (1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025)

SA Permit number: T24/661

Back to questions

Who to contact if you have any queries

Any queries regarding the prize draws should be directed to:

soshelpdesk@srcentre.com.au or via phone on 1800 413 992 (free call within Australia).

Back to questions

2024 Student Outcomes Survey: Prize draw winners

See the Prize draw T&Cs for more information about prize details and values and the date, time, and place of the draws.

Updated: 10 December 2024

Testimonials from the 2024 Student Outcomes Survey