Hon Steven Joyce
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills & Employment

28 August 2013

More students achieving under Youth Guarantee

More young people who have not achieved in the classroom are succeeding in tertiary education through the Youth Guarantee scheme, latest Tertiary Education Commission figures show.

“Youth Guarantee is continuing to motivate young people who may find the classroom environment challenging and are at risk of dropping out of school,” Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

“It is encouraging them to gain practical qualifications that will set them up for a range of career options including in priority trade areas such as carpentry, engineering, horticulture, plumbing, gas-fitting, and brick-and block-laying.”

Tertiary education institutions providing the Youth Guarantee since it began in 2010 have shown increases in course completions from 63 per cent in 2010 to 70 per cent in 2012. Qualification completion rates have also increased from 48 per cent in 2010 to 64 per cent in 2012.

“Youth Guarantee was amalgamated with the former Youth Training programme in 2011 so that more young people would achieve a full qualification and improve their job prospects.

“As a result, the latest data shows that students of former Youth Training providers are producing significantly better results under the Youth Guarantee programme. Credit achievement has risen from an average of 24.86 in 2011 to 37.31 in 2012 – a 66 per cent increase.

“It’s great to see providers meeting the challenge of this new focus and seeing more young people moving successfully into tertiary education and providing them with practical skills and greater career opportunities.”
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