News

26 Oct 2012

Tech Training: Just 9% of grads get a job!

OCT 26 2012:

Most training places are taken by school leavers, many who have already done a VET (vocational education training) qualification as part of their senior schooling. The other cohort who enrol are people looking for a career change.

So which courses at which colleges have the best job outcomes?

There’s three kinds of courses out there. VET courses are tightly audited but the auditing covers standards, not the accuracy of the content. Higher Education courses are generally a Bachelor Degree , Masters or PHD delivered by a Higher Education provider like a University. They are self regulating, and generally offer a qualification like a degree over three years.

Aside from VET (delivered by Registered Training Organisations such as a TAFE), and Higher Ed (University or college with HE accreditation) there is then industry training which is ad hoc courses run by suppliers or employers.

What is the best pathway for a school leaver who wants to work backstage?

Enter The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) – a professional and independent body responsible for collecting, managing, analysing, evaluating and communicating research and statistics about vocational education and training (VET) nationally.

They measured creative arts at the bottom of the statistical range in 2011.

Creative Arts is a catchall that includes music (the CUS training package) and Entertainment (CUE training package). NCVER measured just 9.2% of creative arts graduates working within the field of study. The average for all fields of study was 35.7%.

CX has watched this closely since 1990 when we first published. In that time enrolments at private colleges like Australian Institute of Music, JMC Academy and SAE (formerly School of Audio Education) have increased to an estimated 4,000 across Australia each year.

The Diploma of Sound Production (CUS50209) is offered by 23 institutions across Australia. This is a qualification from the Music training package, and is primarily a recording studio course. Presumably graduates are thus employed in one of the 50 recording studios (in 1994 there were 250 studios) around Australia.

On the other hand, the Diploma of Live Production, Theatre and Events (Technical Production) CUE 50303 is available at just 14 places. It is intended for employment in theatre and events. No private college offer this as a full course, one college, ETETC in Brisbane, offer RPL/RCC (certification for those with existing skills) which meets a crucial industry need for industry professionals that suddenly need to provide a qualification in order to obtain a visa to work outside Australia.

In December CX we will index the courses, colleges and universities across Australia offering technical training, and assess the usefulness of each.

* GIVE US FEEDBACK! Did YOUR training pay off?

Email juliusmedia@me.com or post comment below.

Subscribe

Published monthly since 1991, our famous AV industry magazine is free for download or pay for print. Subscribers also receive CX News, our free weekly email with the latest industry news and jobs.