The 2022 VET Student Experience Survey FAQs

30 June 2022


1. What is the VET Student Experience Survey?

The VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) is a short online survey which asks current students about their training experiences. The new survey complements the National Student Outcomes Survey (SOS), which collects information on training outcomes and satisfaction after students have finished their studies.

The survey will capture information from students, who are currently enrolled in a qualification, about their training experiences so far including training intentions, satisfaction, pre-enrolment and enrolment processes, and motivation.

The VETSES is being developed jointly by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). The Social Research Centre will conduct the field work for the survey.

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2. What is the purpose of the VET Student Experience Survey?

The VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) will provide more frequent and timely data on student experiences and satisfaction at the RTO level. The information complements the National Student Outcomes Survey (SOS) which provides data once a year on student satisfaction and outcomes, the year after students complete their training.

Results from the VETSES will be available to participating RTOs (where enough students from the provider complete the survey) which can be used to support continuous improvement of training delivery or for other purposes, such as marketing. Participating in the VETSES contributes to feedback systems that enable providers to understand and improve their performance.

The VETSES is being developed jointly by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). The survey will provide ASQA and DEWR with data from students about RTOs. These data will be used to support the VET sector by monitoring the market, and help planning for programs and policy.

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3. What are the benefits of the VET Student Experience Survey?

There are benefits of this new survey for RTOs, students, regulators like the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

Benefits for RTOs

The VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) will provide a consistent way for information from students to be collected and provided back to participating RTOs. The administration of the VETSES will be undertaken by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and the Social Research Centre (SRC), with RTOs only having to provide enrolment and contact details for current students.

Each participating RTO will receive a short report summarising their students’ responses, where enough students respond from the provider to ensure reliable information. RTOs can also receive de-identified survey data for their students upon request. This information can then be used by the RTO for continuous improvement of training delivery or for other purposes, such as marketing.

Participating in the VETSES contributes to feedback systems that enable providers to understand and continuously improve their performance.

Benefits for students

Students will have the opportunity to provide feedback about their training in a short survey. This can be used by RTOs to improve their services provided to students.

Benefits for the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)

The survey will provide both ASQA and DEWR more timely and frequent data about RTOs from the perspective of students. These data assist the work of each organisation in supporting the VET sector, including monitoring of the market, and planning for programs and policy.

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4. When is the VET Student Experience Survey being conducted?

The VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) will be administered in waves throughout the year. This enables results to be reported back quickly, and for the survey to cover more RTOs than a large-scale survey at a single point in time.

Following a small successful pilot in December 2020, Wave 1 of the survey was undertaken in May 2021, where 27,461 students from 171 small-medium RTOs were surveyed. A summary and de-identified results were shared with the participating RTOs.

The second wave will invite 50 of Australia’s largest RTOs to participate, with around 40,000 students from these RTOs being invited to complete the survey.

Students will be contacted to complete the survey from mid-October.

Dates for Wave 2 of the VETSES:

  • Late June 2022 - Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) will provide broad information about the survey to the 50 RTOs selected for wave 2.
  • Late July 2022 - RTOs selected for the second wave of the survey will be invited to participate and provided with detailed information to enable their participation.
  • From August 2022 - National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) will follow up the selected RTOs with instructions for supplying student data by mid-September to a secure portal hosted by the Social Research Centre (SRC).
  • From mid-October to early November 2022 - Selected students will be contacted by email and SMS to participate in the VET Student Experience Survey.
  • From mid-December – Participating RTOs will receive their summary report and opportunity to provide feedback on the survey process.

Timing for the third wave of the survey is yet to be determined. It is expected to commence in February or March 2023 and focus on small providers.

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5. Who participates in the VET Student Experience Survey?

A sample of RTOs regulated by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) will be selected from across the country to participate in each wave of the survey. 50 large providers will be invited to participate in Wave 2, as Wave 1 focused on small-medium providers.

Once fully established, the VETSES will be conducted at regular points throughout the year to provide timely data on student experiences to RTOs. It is expected that over half of the ASQA regulated RTOs will be selected to participate in the survey over the course of a year. Most will be included within the first two years of the survey being operational.

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6. How will the survey be conducted?

Only selected RTOs in each wave will be asked to provide enrolment and contact details of their current students to the survey provider, the Social Research Centre (SRC). A sample of students will then be contacted by the SRC to complete the survey.

The survey is conducted online. Selected students will be emailed a link to the survey by SRC. The SRC also conducts the National Student Outcomes Survey on behalf of National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

The results from the students from each RTO will be weighted so that they are representative of that RTO.

Summary results for each participating RTO, when there are enough students completing the survey for that RTO to ensure reliable data, will be available to the RTO.

Data from the survey will be provided to the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and DEWR.

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7. What do RTOs need to do?

Selected RTOs will be asked to supply current qualification enrolment and student contact details. This information needs to be up-to-date so a sample of students currently studying can be contacted to participate in the VET Student Experience Survey.

Detailed instructions for what information RTOs need to provide for each current student will be provided by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and the Social Research Centre (SRC). The requested information will need to be provided to SRC via a secure portal to help facilitate the survey.

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8. How are RTOs selected?

RTOs who have students currently enrolled in a Certificate 1 or higher course have a chance of selection in the survey. RTOs are selected based on a combination of random sampling and priority selection. Some selection of RTOs is based on areas of interest identified by ASQA, such as offering high-demand programs.

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9. How are students selected?

Students currently enrolled in a VET qualification at a selected RTO are randomly selected to participate in the survey. In some instances, all students currently enrolled in a selected RTO will be invited to participate to enable enough survey responses to produce reliable results for that RTO.

The sample selected will aim to ensure coverage across a range of courses and student demographics for the survey.

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10. Does my RTO have to provide student information?

Participation in the VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) is voluntary but strongly encouraged.

RTOs will receive summary data to enable them to gain insights into their students’ experiences from being part of the survey, which can be used to support continuous improvement of training delivery or for other purposes such as marketing.

To help make the VETSES a success you are encouraged to provide the enrolment information and contact details of your current students when contacted by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and the Social Research Centre (SRC). It would be great if you also encourage your students to participate in the survey.

If your RTO does not wish to participate in the survey, it would be helpful if you could provide your reasons for non-participation when contacted.

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11. Why can’t you use student information I have previously provided to NCVER, e.g. AVETMISS data?

The VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) captures the experience of students currently undertaking training.

The data that RTOs provide for statistical reporting to their State Training Authority or to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), only covers students who undertook training for the reporting period. For example, the previous year or quarter. It does not include students who started their training after that period.

Recently commenced students are a focus of the survey.

For these reasons, information previously provided by RTOs and/or State Training Authorities to NCVER through the National VET Provider Collection cannot be used. The VETSES is requesting this information on current students directly from RTOs.

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12. How will student privacy be ensured?

Student contact details will be maintained by the Social Research Centre (SRC) for the purposes of conducting the survey. For privacy reasons, this data will not be provided to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) or any other party and will be destroyed after the conduct of the survey as per Australian Privacy Principles. All survey work undertaken by the SRC will be conducted in accordance with ISO 20252 quality standards, the Research Society Code of Professional Behaviour, and the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles.

Information will be included in the communications to students when contacted for the survey on how their privacy will be maintained, with further details available on the 2022 VET Student Experience Survey Privacy collection notice page.

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13. I’m a student – will my RTO know what I have said about them?

No, your RTO will not know what you have said about them.

The data from the survey provided to the RTO will be summarised across all students at the RTO who completed the survey. Your individual responses to questions, including text answers for ‘other, please specify’ will not be provided to the RTO.

A de-identified (no names, addresses or student identifiers) student level data file, with all survey responses, will be provided to both the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

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14. What will my RTO receive after the survey?

Each participating RTO will receive a short report summarising their students’ responses, where enough students respond from the provider to ensure reliable information. This information can then be used by the RTO for continuous improvement of training delivery or for other purposes, such as marketing.

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15. Will the results from students at my RTO be made public?

No, the RTO level summary data will not be published at this stage.

If things change and we do consider a need to publish the data at the RTO level, then you will be informed prior to the conduct of the wave of the survey.

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16. What type of questions does the survey cover?

Topics covered in the VET Student Experience Survey (VETSES) include:

  • Reasons for training
  • Pre-enrolment and enrolment experiences
  • Training intentions
  • Who is paying for the training
  • Satisfaction with a range of factors related to the training, including facilities, learning resources, location, instruction and assessment, support services and overall satisfaction.

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17. How were the survey questions chosen?

The survey questions are developed through consultation between the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). They are similar to questions used in the National VET Student Outcomes Survey (SOS) and the Quality Indicator Learner Questionnaire.

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18. More information

For further information on this project, please contact VETStudentExperienceSurvey@ncver.edu.au.

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19. What incentives are there for students to participate?

Over the survey fieldwork period, there will be 4 weekly prize draws to win a share of $1,000. The total prize pool is valued at $4,000. The earlier students complete their survey, the more chances they will have to win. For full prize draw details, please see www.ncver.edu.au/VETStudentExperienceSurvey/prizedraw

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