Australian Vocational Education & Training. Students from Non-English-Speaking Backgrounds 1996 : An Overview / Jennifer Gibb and Oanh Phan.

This publication, drawn from the national collection of vocational education and training (VET) data in Australia, summarizes data that relate to the 177,594 VET students who identified themselves as speaking a language other than English at home in 1996. The publication is organized in eight sections as follows: an explanatory note; 1996 highlights; diversity of the Australian VET system; non-English-speaking students; courses taken by non-English-speaking students; module enrollments and outcomes; 1996 non-English-speaking graduates; and profiles of specific language groups. Highlights of the overview include the following: (1) the 177,594 students from non-English-speaking backgrounds represented 13 percent of all students undertaking VET programs in 1996; (2) approximately 91,000 females and 86,000 males from non-English-speaking backgrounds were enrolled in VET courses; (3) 17 percent of students from non-English-speaking backgrounds were enrolled full time, compared to 10 percent of students from English-speaking backgrounds; (4) students from non-English-speaking backgrounds represented 13 percent of course enrollments; (5) almost 60 percent of students from non-English-speaking backgrounds passed the modules in which they were enrolled; (6) students from non-English-speaking backgrounds enrolled in more than 53.9 million annual hours in vocational programs, which was 19 percent of the total enrollment; (7) students from non-English-speaking backgrounds undertook an average of 304 hours of training each, whereas students from English-speaking backgrounds undertook an average of 220 hours each; and (8) 85 percent of the educational costs for non-English-speaking students was paid by public funds. (KC)

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