There have never been so many education and training options available to school leavers.

While university remains a popular option for about 30% of school leavers, Vocational Education and Training (VET) is becoming increasingly popular as a pathway from school to work. In fact it is now estimated that over half of all year 12 leavers will go on to study a VET course within the first few years of leaving school.

This is great news because those people who go on to do post school education and training are more likely to gain full time employment, and earn higher levels of income.

There is a lot of similarity between VET and university courses, as they can both lead to interesting, well-paid careers. A popular feature of VET courses is that they are often designed by industry for industry and therefore have direct relevance to employment. VET courses are competency based and directly linked to employment.

Post-school VET courses are offered through:

• TAFE
• Private Registered Training Organisations
• Community training providers

For assistance on how to get into a particular course contact your local Tertiary Admissions Centre (see the box below with the relevant web addresses). Some courses require you to apply direct to the training provider and others require you to apply through the relevant Tertiary Admissions Centre. It is also important to go directly to the source and contact the course provider about special entry requirements. Remember that most courses have prerequisite requirements, for example you may need to study particular school subjects in order to be eligible for entry.

You can find information on every accredited course in Australia by visiting the Courses and Programs database at myfuture website.

 Another useful place to look regarding university courses is Going to Uni website and the National Training Information Service (NTIS) website, for training package information. In line with the changing needs of the labour market training providers are creating new courses.

A sample of new courses for this year from a range of universities include:

• Bachelor of Coaching Science and Sports Management
• Bachelor of Kyinandoo (Indigenous Studies)
• Bachelor of Science in Logistics Management
• Associate Degree in Aquaculture
• Bachelor of Regional Resource Management
• Bachelor of Science (Petroleum Geoscience)

A sample of new courses for this year from a range of Registered Training Providers and TAFEs include:

• Diploma in Sustainable Agriculture
• Diploma of Sustainable Water and Catchments Management
• Diploma of Broadcasting (Radio and Television)