VET News

Exploratory Analysis of VET Market Segments

This latest paper from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) summarises the exploratory quantitative analysis undertaken to investigate how vocational education and training (VET) students cluster and segment in the Australian VET market. 

This analysis is outlined in three sections:

• The first section focuses on ‘clustering’ as a technique for grouping data and the three clustering algorithms used. These are then discussed in more detail to provide some insights into how they operate. Their specific data requirements, along with their strengths and weaknesses, are also considered.
• In the next section the outputs of the clustering approaches are considered. The resultant clusters are examined to better understand them, and meaningfully label and group them into segments.
• With the insights gained from the clustering process, the final section of this paper returns to the raw data. This step was necessary to further explore (in this case, only some of) the identified market segments. Here three key market segments are explored: students in targeted English programs; students in social inclusion programs; and migrant students.

Click the  links below to read key messages or download the full report:

• Key messages
• Exploratory Analysis of VET Market Segments (full report)

Date posted Apr 7, 2022