South Australia's vocational education and training (VET) sector was bolstered by a $10.8 million increase in funding in 2023, with a combined $385.8 million from Australian and South Australian governments – an increase of 2.9 per cent from the 2022 investment of $375.1 million.
The 2023 calendar year funding figures have been released today by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
The figures show the Malinauskas Government allocated $213.4 million for skills training and delivery in 2023, an increase of $18.3 million (9.4 per cent), compared to 2022.
The increase in state recurrent funding was largely due to a renewed focus on addressing skills shortages, including additional funding for eight skills development projects through Skill Shortage Solutions (SSS) grants to upskill participants in construction, bricklaying, concreting and cookery.
Overall, spending increased 2.7 per cent for VET, which included:
- $324.8 million for registered training organisations, including TAFE, an increase of 1.2 per cent or $4.0 million compared to 2022 ($320.8 million)
- $10.5 million for employer assistance, an increase of 126.7 per cent or $5.9 million, more than double 2022 ($4.6 million)
- $20.9 million for capital funding, an increase of 1.7 per cent or $0.3 million compared to 2022 ($20.5 million)
- $25.3 million for administration and governance, an increase of 0.4 per cent or $0.1 million compared to 2022 ($25.2 million).
Additionally, VET funding increased in 2023 for a range of cohorts, including:
- Apprentice and trainees, up 16.5 per cent or $14.0 million, from $85.0 million in 2022 to $99.0 million
- Private training providers, up 14.5 per cent or $14.4 million, from $99.5 million in 2022 to $114.0 million
- Community Based Adult Education providers, up 81.2 per cent or $1.8 million, from $2.2 million in 2022 to $3.9 million
- Certificate III courses, up 22.4 per cent or $25.8 million, from $115.2 million in 2022 to $141.0 million
- Regional and remote students, up 7.6 per cent or $5.0 million, from $66.6 million in 2022 to $71.6 million
- Students reporting a disability, up 14.4 per cent or $3.0 million, from $21.1 million in 2022 to $24.1 million in
- Students reporting they were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, up 26.5 per cent or $1.8 million, from $6.6 million in 2022 to $8.4 million.
As put by Blair Boyer
The Malinauskas Government is committed to ensuring our state is skilled and qualified in the areas its needed most for the next generation.
Our government is investing more funding to give record numbers of South Australians the skills they need for the jobs we're creating in early childhood, defence, construction and health.
In 2024, South Australia and the Australian Governments committed an unprecedented level of funding to South Australia's VET sector – a $2.3 billion joint investment through the National Skills Agreement to provide long term funding and certainty for skills delivery.
