1. Technical and Further Education (TAFE)
Australia offers a wide variety of vocational education and courses. The Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) college system is both Government owned and operated.

TAFE colleges specialise in training students for the work force. T AFE graduates are in demand from both business and industry for their wide range of practical and technical skills.

Each year increasing numbers of international students are choosing the TAFE option, either as a means of training and qualifying for a highly skilled job in business, the art, or industry, or as an alternative pathway into university degree studies.

The advantages for international students choosing to undertake TAFE studies are numerous and include the following facts:

TAFE awards: TAFE courses are offered at different levels, and a different award is given at each level.
i) The Certificate I is a preparatory qualification focusing on a range of basic employment-related skills.

ii) The Certificate II has learning outcomes involving the performing of a prescribed range of functions involving known routines and procedures and some accountability for the quality of outcomes.

iii) The Certificate III has learning outcomes requiring the performance of a defined range of skilled operations, usually within a range of broader related activities involving known routines, methods and procedures, but with some discretion and judgement required.

(The usual entry level for Certificate I, II, III, programs is completion of Year 10 or the equivalent).

iv) The Certificate IV has learning outcomes requiring the performance of a broad range of skilled applications, including requirements to evaluate and analyze current practices, develop new criteria and procedures for performing current practices, and with leadership and guidance involved.

v) The Diploma is a para professional qualification. The learning outcomes require the self-directed application of knowledge and skills, with substantial depth of knowledge required in some areas where judgement is required.

vi) The Advanced Diploma is a professional-level qualification with learning outcomes requiring the application of a significant range of fundamental principles and complex techniques across a wide and often unpredictable variety of contexts, in relation to either varied or highly specific functions.

(Entry to 4, 5 & 6 requires general educational competencies equivalent to Year 12 or to completion of Certificate III in the discipline. Many programs will require a specific level of competence in mathematics, English, and/or a science)

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