2025 survey information
The 2025 Student Outcomes Survey opens on 2 June 2025 and closes 10 August 2025.
To complete the 2025 survey, go to www.ncver.edu.au/sos/login and enter the login code provided in your survey invitation.
Thank you to all students who participated in the 2024 survey. The results from your participation are now available in the publication VET student outcomes 2024.
The Social Research Centre (SRC), a national social research company, is conducting the 2025 Student Outcomes Survey on NCVER's behalf. Depending on the availability of contact details, the students selected to participate in the survey will be sent a survey invitation from SRC by:
- mobile
- email from The SOS Team via soshelpdesk@srcentre.com.au, and/or
- letter
Some students are selected to complete the survey via a phone interview.
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
2025 Student Outcomes Survey: Frequently asked questions
What is the survey?
The Student Outcomes Survey is an annual survey for people who did vocational education and training (VET) in the prior year. It asks about:
- why they chose to study
- why they didn’t finish the training (if applicable)
- how satisfied they were
- whether they got a job or went onto further study.
The 2025 survey runs from June to mid-August. Students who undertook a VET qualification, program or subject in 2024 may receive an invitation to take part.
Who is doing the survey?
The survey is managed, conducted and funded by different organisations.
- The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) manages the survey. It’s a not-for-profit company owned by the State, Territory and Federal ministers responsible for VET.
- The Social Research Centre (SRC) is a national social research company that conducts the survey on NCVER's behalf.
- The Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations funds the survey and uses the results to shape policy and help students make informed choices.
Why is it conducted?
The Student Outcomes Survey helps improve VET in Australia by providing information about students’ satisfaction with training, benefits of the training and employment and further study outcomes.
The results help governments and training providers plan, improve services, and make sure training stays relevant to workplaces. It also helps track what’s working and what isn’t.
What information is collected?
You can download the 2025 questionnaires to see the questions.
Who is included and when?
Who is included in the survey?
The 2025 survey includes Australian students aged 15 years and over who completed some training in 2024 . It includes:
- 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 students: Students who have completed or partially completed, and are no longer undertaking, a training package skill set or accredited course.
- 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 invited to take part in this national survey about training they did in 2024. They may be contacted by the Social Research Centre by post, email, text, and/or phone. By participating, they help improve education for future students.
Your child can also enter a weekly prize draw to win a share of $40,000 in e-gift cards. For legal reasons in South Australia, students under 18 years must confirm they have parental permission to enter the draw by answering a question at the end of the survey. By selecting ‘Yes’, your child is confirming they have your consent to enter the prize draw.
All answers are confidential. For more details about how your child’s 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 has three main stages.
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)
- Invitations are sent in June via email, SMS or hard-copy letter, depending on the availability of contact details. Survey invitations include a unique login code and/or a link for accessing the online survey.
- Email, letter and/or SMS reminders are sent to students if they haven’t completed the survey.
- From July, some students may get a follow-up phone call to complete the survey by phone.
Data analysis and reporting (September to March)
- Responses are checked and analysed.
- Results are prepared for release.
What survey results are available?
What information is available to training providers?
The 2025 survey is designed, subject to response rates, to provide information for registered training organisations (RTOs) who in 2024 had at least:
- 100 qualification completers
- 550 qualification part completers
- 250 short course students
- 550 subject(s) only completers.
If enough students respond, RTOs can access a free of charge online product, RTO Outcomes Explorer, showing their students’ outcomes and satisfaction alongside relevant state/territory and national comparisons. This product will be updated in February each year and is available via NCVER’s DataHub, which is a platform that enables secure sign-in to a range of customised NCVER data products. Further information on this product is available here.
How can I improve the survey responses for my training provider?
Training providers can promote the survey to past and current students using the survey promotional kit, which 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 overall results of the Student Outcomes Survey are published on NCVER’s Portal under the following titles.
- VET student outcomes: published in December of the survey year.
- Apprentice and trainee outcomes: published in March of the following year.
A suite of supporting information is also provided on these publication pages on NCVER's portal.
Additional information is made available to various stakeholders including the Commonwealth and state/territory education and training departments.
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. Data requests will incur a fee. See the data access and charging policy.
2025 Student Outcomes Survey: Privacy collection notice
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.
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 short, or if you did it through your workplace.
I don't want to participate in the 2025 survey
To opt out of the 2025 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.
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. This personal information may include your:
- name
- contact details
- age
- date of birth
- gender
- Indigenous status
- training program and training provider details.
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
For the duration of the data collection, SRC stores all personal information and survey responses on secure servers located within Australia.
After 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 of 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
Some personal information (such as your name, email address and phone number) is only used by SRC for administering the survey. This may be disclosed to a small number of external service providers SRC works with 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.
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 all companies contracted by SRC comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). SRC and these companies destroy all records of your name and contact details at the conclusion of the survey.
Other personal information such as demographic information (including gender and age group) as well as course information is also used to analyse and interpret the survey data.
If we disclose personal information, we do so only as permitted by the Privacy Act and the National VET Data Policy.
We may also 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.
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 1988 (Cth) including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
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
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.
2025 Student Outcomes Survey: Prize draw terms and conditions of entry
Method and duration of entry period
Method of entry
Entry is open to all respondents of the 2025 Student Outcomes Survey. To enter, those invited to complete the 2025 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 2nd June 2025 to 11.59pm 10th August 2025. Ten prize draws will occur during this period, with the following schedule:
- Respondents who complete their survey before 11.59pm AEST 11th June 2025 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 18th June 2025 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 25th June 2025 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 2nd July 2025 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 9th July 2025 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 16th July 2025 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 23rd July 2025 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 30th July 2025 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 6th August 2025 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 10th August 2025 will be entered into prize draw #10 and will be eligible to win a prize in the draw.
Details of prizes and prize values
Prize draws will occur weekly from 13th June 2025. The first entry drawn in each of the ten prize draws will receive a $1,000 e-gift card. The second and third entries drawn in each prize draw will receive a $500 e-gift card. The final eight entries drawn in each prize draw will each receive a $250 e-gift card. The total value of the prize pool is $40,000.
Each prize draw is comprised of the following:
Each prize draw is comprised of the following: | |
1st Prize | 1 x $1,000 e-gift card drawn from the national pool |
2nd Prize | 2 x $500 e-gift card drawn from the national pool |
3rd Prize | 8 x $250 e-gift card drawn from the national pool |
Date, time and place of draw
- Prize Draw #1: 2:00 pm AEST 13th June 2025
- Prize Draw #2: 2:00 pm AEST 20th June 2025
- Prize Draw #3: 2:00 pm AEST 27th June 2025
- Prize Draw #4: 2:00 pm AEST 4th July 2025
- Prize Draw #5: 2:00 pm AEST 11th July 2025
- Prize Draw #6: 2:00 pm AEST 18th July 2025
- Prize Draw #7: 2:00 pm AEST 25th July 2025
- Prize Draw #8: 2:00 pm AEST 1st August 2025
- Prize Draw #9: 2:00 pm AEST 8th August 2025
- Prize Draw #10: 2:00 pm AEST 15th August 2025
All draws will be conducted at Level 5, 350 Queen Street Melbourne VIC 3000. Winners will be identified through a manual draw.
Publication of winner names and unclaimed prizes
Publication of winner names
Winners will be notified in writing via email, then by telephone within seven days of the relevant draw. The first initial, last name and state of residence of all winners will be published online at www.ncver.edu.au/sos. For the winners in South Australia, their first initial, last name and postcode (if consent is given and postcode provided) will be published within seven days of the prize draws, otherwise, state of residence will be published in place of postcode. The following dates are when the winners will be published on the website:
- Prize Draw #1: by 2:00 pm AEST 17th June 2025
- Prize Draw #2: by 2:00 pm AEST 24th June 2025
- Prize Draw #3: by 2:00 pm AEST 1st July 2025
- Prize Draw #4: by 2:00 pm AEST 8th July 2025
- Prize Draw #5: by 2:00 pm AEST 15th July 2025
- Prize Draw #6: by 2:00 pm AEST 22nd July 2025
- Prize Draw #7: by 2:00 pm AEST 29th July 2025
- Prize Draw #8: by 2:00 pm AEST 5th August 2025
- Prize Draw #9: by 2:00 pm AEST 12th August 2025
- Prize Draw #10: by 2:00pm AEST 19th August 2025
Unclaimed prize draw
If any prizes are unclaimed by 28th November 2025 an unclaimed prize draw will take place at 2.00 PM AEDT on 28th November 2025 at the above address. Winners will be notified in writing via email within seven days. The first initial, last name and state of residence of all winners will be published online at www.ncver.edu.au/sos. For the winners in South Australia, their first initial, last name and postcode (if consent is given and postcode provided), otherwise, state of residence will be published in place of postcode.
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.
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.
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/01891
ACT Permit number: TP 24_00728 (1 July 2024- 30 June 2025). Application pending for 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026
SA Permit number: T25/491
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).
2025 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: 8 May 2025
| Prize draw 1 | Name |
|---|---|
| First prize winner: | |
| Second prize winners: | |
| Third prize winners: |