Battling declining student motivation and confidence to study since the onset of the pandemic has been no easy feat.

Following a turbulent year, providers are focused on seeking out opportunities to stand out from the crowd and boost their student enquiry volumes.

The education market is becoming increasingly competitive. Attracting students requires providers to understand the student journey and apply strategic marketing efforts to encourage conversions. This is where the Candlefox Education Marketplace comes into play.

Our Education Marketplace helps providers, like Learning People, with their student acquisition efforts whilst improving their brand visibility. 

In January 2021, we worked alongside James Farr from Learning People, to implement the ‘Subject Spotlight’ solution on coursesonline.co.uk. This solution increased their ‘share of voice’ – the percentage share of enquiries compared to competitors in a subject area – on our Marketplace by 120%.

Learning People is a leading digital skill specialising in training the next generation of digital workers. Having educated over 30,000 students globally, they are on a mission to empower people – of all skill levels and across all continents – to pursue a rewarding career in technology. 

Learning People helps students start a new career or accelerate their current one with exclusive access to award-winning training programs and placements within industry.

COVID-19, and the subsequent acceleration towards Industry 4.0, have resulted in technology-based skills shortages around the globe. 

Workplaces and industries are becoming increasingly digitised and automated; larger workforce percentages now prefer remote or flexible working arrangements. This means that workers, employers and governments are all quickly realising the importance of building digital capabilities. 

Technological-based skills enable workers to use emerging digital devices to create and share content, communicate and collaborate in remote teams, and access and manage online information securely.

“As we continue to scale our business and help economies fill the growing tech skills gap, we were challenged with increasing our student enquiry volumes whilst ensuring we maintained the quality,” says James Farr, Paid Media Manager at Learning People. 

“We were looking for a marketing partner that could deliver high-intent student prospects which we could easily convert in-house.” 

In addition, Farr wanted to ensure that the Learning People brand was front of mind to prospective students. “We wanted to make sure we not only stood out in the market but our brand was showcased in the subject areas that mattered.”

At Candlefox, we know the student segment. We specialise in driving traffic from active student prospects to our subject pages and convert high-intent student prospects into enquiries for our clients. 

Our Education Marketplace – a network of global websites including CoursesOnline – enables education providers to expand their student enquiry volumes whilst improving their brand discoverability.

To increase Learning People’s brand visibility within the student segment, we implemented the ‘Subject Spotlight’ solution.

The Subject Spotlight solution gives providers a competitive edge by:

Our subject pages are the most valuable real estate on our Marketplace, drawing the highest volume of traffic on our network. In addition, these pages receive over 150,000 monthly visits from students further down the enrolment funnel – students that demonstrate higher intent to enquire.

After an initial discovery call with Learning People, we executed a two-part Subject Spotlight solution.

Through our Subject Spotlight solution, Learning People received the exclusive top placement on the project management subject page. As seen in the image above, Learning People’s Prince2 Full Collection also secured the ‘Top Result’ placement. Top Spot or Top Result placements provide the most value for providers – our data indicates that a high percentage of enquiries originate from top ranked course listings. 

By sponsoring the Subject Spotlight solution on our network, Learning People were able to showcase their brand more prominently to project management student prospects and attract a higher volume of enquiries than their competitors.

Since January 2021, Learning People has invested in the Subject Spotlight solution for the project management category on our Marketplace. 

Our Marketplace enabled Learning People to attract and connect with a larger cohort of students. Since its implementation, Learning People have achieved some stellar results.

Comparing December 2020 to February 2021, they have seen:

These results are predicted to grow. Learning People will continue to reap the benefits of the Featured Provider and Top Spot solutions. 

Farr has been impressed with the impact of the Subject Spotlight solution on their performance on the Marketplace.

“We have seen positive results from the Subject Spotlight solution. We see the Candlefox team as an extension of our marketing team. We believe in their business model and have great confidence in our relationship with them,” says Farr.

Looking ahead, Farr said: “We would like to explore further optimisations to our listings on the Marketplace to ensure we’re providing existing and prospective students with the best experience possible.”

Discover a solution that delivers a seamless customer experience and nurtures your prospects in every stage of the student journey.

Find out how you can get your courses onto the Candlefox Marketplace.

Get in touch with the team today.

The Multiversity has bolstered its performance marketing function by appointing Candlefox in an ongoing strategic partnership.

The Multiversity is an Australia-first initiative developed in collaboration between four leading NSW universities – the University of Newcastle, UNSW Sydney, the University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University. Its unique partnership will deliver a new approach to education and training, bridging the future of learning to the jobs of tomorrow. 

This partnership will see Candlefox expand the Multiversity’s student acquisition efforts through a bespoke lead generation and enrolment service. This includes course marketing, lead qualification and management, as well as CRM and marketing automation services.

The appointment is a notable win for Candlefox, which have become an education specialist over the past two decades. Candlefox has helped vocational and tertiary education institutions attract, enrol, and retain prospective students with custom-built digital marketing solutions. 

The Multiversity Chief Operating Officer Jane Reynaud says this partnership will bring opportunities for both parties. 

“This is an exciting moment for the Multiversity. We are bringing together the very best of our partner universities to work together in non-traditional ways to deliver new, industry-centric education and training to our community, driving sustained economic impact and knowledge-job creation along the way,” says Reynaud.

“This is not BAU. We are carving a new path to bring new opportunities to future generations of Australians. We are delighted to have Candlefox’s expertise contributing to the delivery of our vision.”

Candlefox Commercial Director Russell Sheil says, “We are honoured to have been selected to lead the Multiversity’s student recruitment efforts. At Candlefox, we are passionate about connecting students to high-quality education providers, and we’re excited the Multiversity also shares this ethos.”

“We are looking forward to working closely with the Multiversity team to apply data-driven performance marketing solutions to bolster their current capabilities.” 

To learn more, head to the Multiversity website or get in touch.

Backed by both the NSW Government and the Australian Government, the Multiversity is a new education, training and research approach ready for the 22nd century. The tertiary education initiative offers a new program of short courses across STEM disciplines. 

Professor Alex Zelinsky AO, Chair, Multiversity Board, said: “The Multiversity leverages the proven strength and quality of our partner universities. Together, we are reimagining the future of education and training in Australia. With our industry and government partners, the Multiversity is working ahead of the curve and growing an exceptional pipeline of Industry 4.0 ready graduates.”

Candlefox specialises in bespoke digital marketing solutions for education partners. 

Candlefox helps education institutions of all shapes and sizes with lead generation and student acquisition. With a reach of over a million active students per month, they understand the education market and are well-positioned to help institutions navigate it. Over the past decade, they have helped our partners attract and enrol thousands of students so they can focus on what they do best – educating.

Another month, another Candlefox product.

This month, we’re proud to announce we’ve officially rolled out our new client-centric service – Provider Dashboards.

Our Provider Dashboards are a data visualisation tool that allows our providers to track, analyse and report on key campaign performance metrics.

Using our Dashboards, providers can monitor and evaluate the performance of our Marketplace lead generation service. They can then use this data to:

At Candlefox, we appreciate good data. That’s why we’ve made sure our Dashboard data is processed and updated in real time – enabling providers to pivot their marketing and sales strategies in the blink of an eye.

We created the Provider Dashboards to assist our providers in making informed, data-driven decisions about student recruitment.

We found an underlying need to improve the transparency and sharing of data with our providers. We needed a solution that met the specific data needs of our lead generation partners.

Our Dashboards:

Our Dashboards enable our in-house team and providers to efficiently track campaign metrics simultaneously. Using data visualisation, providers can easily unpack complex information and draw parallels between different metrics.

Our Provider Dashboard tool provides a centralised, interactive means of monitoring, measuring and extracting relevant performance data. 

We do this through a two-part service.

Providers can also use the embedded comparison tools to analyse how their current campaign is performing against prior periods (whether that’s weeks, months or years).

These evaluation tools are a valuable source for uncovering seasonality-related changes to student enrolment trends.

In its current form, our Provider Dashboards are one-size-fits-all. But this is only the beginning for us. We are always looking for opportunities to go above and beyond for our clients. 

We value the relationship we have with the providers on our network and are constantly creating products and services that enable the growth and success of our clients. As we gather more feedback from our network, we’ll make optimisations to the Dashboards – think comparative tools, interactive widgets, and more Marketplace data.

Our Provider Dashboards are currently available to all partners in Australia and New Zealand – free of charge. We have plans to expand this service to the UK in the coming months.

We look forward to sharing more good news about Candlefox products and services in the future. Sign up for our newsletter to get updates delivered to your inbox.

Under New Zealand’s Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE), 16 existing polytechnics merged under one mega-polytech – Te Pūkenga.

In 2019, the government announced reforms to the country’s vocational education system. The reform will see New Zealand build a more robust and sustainable education ecosystem.

There are seven key changes proposed under this initiative:

This article will take a closer look at Te Pūkenga as it continues to be rolled out across New Zealand.

“Vocational education in New Zealand today is overly complex and not attractive enough for neither students nor employers,” says Minister of Education Chris Hipkins. 

Te Pūkenga (previously known as the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology) will bring depth to New Zealand’s current vocational education system. 

The mega-polytech will bring together 16 regional Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) under one organisation. Acting as a joint network of education providers, Te Pūkenga will be the ultimate long-term skills training partner for learners, employers and communities.

Through Te Pūkenga, students will be able to shift between work-based, on-campus or online learning – allowing for a more well-rounded educational experience.

Te Pūkenga was created to:

New Zealand’s workforce is rapidly changing, with certain industries declining, while others rapidly accelerate. At the same time, literacy, numeracy and technical skills are becoming more important in a wide array of roles, including blue-collar jobs. This means that strong collaboration between industry and vocational education providers is needed to ensure that graduates have the right skills to contribute meaningfully to the workforce. 

The economic impact of COVID-19 also means the workforce requires more highly-skilled workers to contribute to the economy. Workers themselves may also be looking for ways to upskill and future-proof their roles by obtaining in-demand training.

Te Pūkenga is well-positioned to offer students the learning experience they are searching for, while ensuring this education aligns with industry and economic needs.

The transition to Te Pūkenga poses significant changes and challenges for many stakeholders. Here are some of the changes to be expected over the next two years:

Once rolled out, Te Pūkenga will function as a mega-polytech servicing all of New Zealand. This will create a standardised yet flexible experience for students, allowing them to pursue training that is relevant to themselves and industry.

With greater industry input into training programmes, New Zealand is set to see a more highly-skilled workforce that is truly prepared for the future world of work.

Lead generation, student enrolment and retention lay the foundations for a strong student journey. But how do these pieces fit together?

We’ve previously explored each phase in more detail, but this hub will act as the go-to tool for education providers. Our student journey hub provides all the information, tips and resources providers need to optimise their student experience.

The student journey is the sequence of interactions a student experiences throughout their relationship with an education provider. It begins from the first time they hear about the brand to enrolling and completing their studies and re-engaging as a lifelong alumnus. 

It’s a valuable tool for those in the education sector. The journey enables educators to understand their student audience, identify any pain points, and uncover improvement opportunities.

The student journey comprises of three main components:

1.     Lead generation
2.    Student enrolment
3.    Student retention

The lead generation component relies on student-centric marketing activities. These activities target relevant student groups and create engaging online and offline recruitment experiences.

This stage includes three stages:

While students discover and evaluate their education sources, there are opportunities for providers to get ahead of competitors and remain attractive to prospective students. 

Today’s education providers must know how to get students through the front door and best optimise their sales teams to increase enrolments.

Read more

The enrolment component flows on from the lead generation phase. In this period, it’s critical for providers to make the transition from recruitment to enrolment as seamless as possible. 

Setting up an effective post-enquiry contact strategy and nurture program is crucial to streamlining workflow and increasing enrolments.

Read more

When it comes to maximising your enrolments, understanding how to interact with prospective students is essential.

Read more

Retention is an issue for many education providers. With advancing technologies and dwindling attention span, students are demanding more unique experiences from education providers.

 In addition to this, students may find themselves overwhelmed by their program load and the volume of assignments – increasing their likelihood of dropping out of study.

It’s vital for providers to create an engaging and interactive learning experience in this stage, which carries through to graduation and post-study.

There are two key stages within student retention:

Over 40% of students never complete their courses. Education providers must apply student-centric retention solutions to increase engagement and reduce non-completion rates.

Read more

The student journey tracks every step a student takes before, during and after enrolling in a training program. It provides valuable insight into the behaviours and needs of prospecting, existing and graduated students at every stage of their education journey. These insights help:

Enrolment and retention have been the subjects of many debates, both internationally and locally. In Australia, education and training institutions are facing a common set of challenges in the 21st century, such as:

Now more than ever, improving student enrolment and retention should be a priority for our education sector. With immediate skills shortage and economic volatility due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the acceleration of Industry 4.0, we must continue to educate and train tomorrow’s workforce.

The student journey enables departments to adopt a holistic approach to the student experience. It ensures every interaction with a student, from applicant to alumnus, is tailored and valuable to the individual. In today’s competitive education landscape, the ability to do all is critical for providers wanting to stand out from the crowd.

Over 40% of students within our vocational education and training (VET) system never finish their courses through to completion. In fact, students in their first semester are at the highest risk of leaving their studies. Therefore, education providers must apply student-centric retention solutions to increase engagement and reduce non-completion rates. 

The future of education and training is ever-changing – influenced by various external factors such as government funding, emerging competitors and Industry 4.0 technologies.

As our education system becomes overwhelmed with competitors, providers must distinguish themselves. Providers who optimise their acquisition and retention strategies are more likely to receive higher student completion rates and satisfaction. 

Below, we unpack how future-forward providers can implement a student-centric framework to train the next generation of workers. 

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) states that “program completion rates are an important measure for determining the success and efficiency of the Australian VET system.” 

Therefore as Australia’s primary training mechanism, all VET institutions must proactively measure and improve their program completion rates. Providers must design high-quality training and support systems to progress students from enrolment through to graduation. 

According to Monash University, student retention has far-reaching benefits that extend beyond the immediate learning community. Success in education has social and economic benefits for our economy.

As a general rule of thumb, educated students are more likely to:

Individuals participate in education for a variety of reasons and at different stages of their lives and careers. Some will undertake training to learn new skills to enter our workforce for the first time, while others will study to upgrade their existing capabilities. 

Because of this diversity, there will be a range of factors that influence non-completion rates. In Figure 1, the NCVER outlines reasons that may affect completion rates within our VET system.

The factors above can be divisible into two buckets:

Reasons such as academic under-preparedness, managing the transition to university and other personal problems will be present before entry. While these aren’t necessarily relevant to providers, providers must consider these factors when developing retention programs and initiatives. 

While it’s important to consider when these reasons may occur, it’s also critical to understand who they may be attributed to – not all of the factors above can be solely attributed to the student. In fact, provider and course attributes can also alter a student’s likelihood of completion. 

Understanding these segments is crucial to designing and implementing a student success and retention framework.

With only 56% of VET students completing their studies in 2019, it’s clear that our education system needs more robust retention frameworks.

To do their part in skilling our domestic labour force, every education provider should design and execute a student-centred framework focused on providing enriched and supportive student experiences.

The following three key strategic priorities underpin a successful student retention strategy:

Providers should personalise the framework to suit the needs of their students, staff and industries. However, there are several key strategies all providers can easily adopt.

Establish programs that provide students with diverse opportunities to engage with other students, staff and communities. Engagement programs help increase a student’s sense of belonging, ultimately leading to higher completion rates. Initiatives within this segment can include peer-assisted study support, mentoring programs, mental health facilities and indigenous engagement units.

For individuals entering post-secondary education for the first time, managing the transition into full-time or part-time study can be challenging. Special consideration must be taken when developing the curriculum. Providers must avoid setting unrealistic expectations on first-year students to immediately adapt and transition into full-time or part-time study. 

To do this, providers can promote a smoother transition by incorporating introductory courses, particularly for programs of longer duration. These courses enable incoming students to gradually orientate to their environment and adapt to their study load.

Providers should audit their curricula to ensure there is an even spread of difficult courses – non-completion rates are higher when students face a demanding load within their first semester. 

Additionally, providers should look to technologically-driven short modules where possible. Shorter qualifications, including micro-learning, enable students to undertake study without disruption to their current routines, reducing non-completion rates due to personal or work circumstances.

Providers should identify opportunities for students to explore work-based learning. On-the-job learning ensures students don’t lose interest in their studies and are well-equipped with the skills to enter the workforce. 

Opportunities include:

Financial aid programs can significantly improve retention rates for low socio-economic or disadvantaged students facing debt issues. Financial assistance can create pathways to graduation for a larger cohort of students. 

Flexible payment plans and counselling support services are additional ways to support students from low socio-economic communities in progressing through their studies.

The ability to deliver timely and accurate information is a key retention tactic. In this digital age, providers should utilise technology for two-way communication to keep students engaged throughout their education and post-study. This can include:

The complex nature of attrition makes addressing retention difficult – there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Providers must implement a student-centred approach that is both adaptable to any external influencers and refinable as informed by data.

The UK education landscape is becoming increasingly competitive. Globalisation and emerging technologies are leaving many universities, colleges and training providers wary of their standing on the global education stage.

Simultaneously, the emergence of high-quality institutions worldwide is making it harder for UK training providers to compete for student enrolments. 

Today’s digital marketers must juggle multiple pieces of the education marketing puzzle – SEO, content marketing, remarketing and social media (to name a few). 

The Candlefox Education Marketplace provides a simple solution for education and training providers looking to streamline their student acquisition journey. Our Marketplace – a network of global brands, including coursesonline.co.uk – connects high-intent student prospects with quality education providers. 

Since joining the Candlefox Marketplace, DLC Training has been able to increase total student lead volume, enrol more students and boost overall business growth.

DLC Training is one of the UK’s leading distance learning providers, renowned for helping learners achieve their professional development goals. They specialise in delivering internationally-recognised business management and supply chain management courses. 

Industry 4.0 is changing the way workers approach professional training. Distance learning is rising in popularity, particularly amongst mature-aged learners. DLC Training provides bespoke qualifications to support professionals from all walks of life with their career and education ambitions.

Too much reliance on other digital marketing channels that provide little to no value. 

Before joining the Candlefox Marketplace, DLC Training invested a substantial amount of their marketing budget into advertisers that provided little return. 

William Baxter, Web and Platform Manager, is responsible for lead generation at DLC Training. He says they needed to find a digital marketing channel that could complement the existing platforms they use. It needed to provide them with consistent lead volumes throughout the year. 

“Providing our Sales team with enough resources to effectively do their role is paramount to our business model. We want to yield as much return on investment as possible through the various channels we advertise with,” says Baxter.

The core measure of success in student acquisition is ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment), or the calculation of revenue over cost. 

ROMI helps providers measure the total sum invested in paid marketing activities for student enrolment purposes. While there may be various factors that influence ROMI, the single most significant is a provider’s ability to attract a constant stream of student leads. 

However, lead generation in the education industry can be tricky; seasonality and user choice can drastically impact students’ decision to study. 

“Consistency in student enquiries gives us insights and data we can use to plan and forecast our overall business efforts. This [service] is tough to come by in the education industry – some months can be fantastic, while others can drop unexpectedly.”

Baxter also identified that they needed a channel that could provide industry-first insights and maintain a healthy supply of student enquiries.

A streamlined student acquisition journey and high-quality lead generation services. 

DLC Training first approached Candlefox looking to diversify their digital marketing strategy and increase their student lead volume. With over 60,000 monthly visitors on CoursesOnline, we immediately knew our Marketplace was the ideal solution for DLC Training. 

Our Marketplace helps education and training providers expand their lead generation services by making their courses discoverable to a larger cohort of student prospects. 

After the initial consultation with the Candlefox Partnerships Team, Baxter realised the profound impact our Marketplace could have on their business growth.

“We were looking for an alternative marketing channel that we could invest some budget into and build a strong partnership. Having a channel, like the Candlefox Marketplace, that provides us overall consistency and quality has been principal to our organisation,” says Baxter. 

Implementation was a seamless process. We apply a ‘set and forget’ solution, making it the ultimate low-touch digital marketing tool for education providers.

“Getting onto the Candlefox Marketplace was an effortless procedure. The end-to-end process from the initial conversation to get our courses live took no more than seven days.”

Since joining the Candlefox Marketplace in December 2018, DLC Training has seen an increase in student leads and consistency in their yearly lead volume. 

Our Marketplace provided additional lead generation capabilities for DLC Training. Through advertising with CoursesOnline and Candlefox, they have been able to market their courses to a larger audience and attract more student enquiries. 

Baxter has been impressed with their return on investment from the Candlefox Marketplace.

“Candlefox not only provides quality leads, but they also go out and find them for you. Other providers lend their systems to the consumers doing the work to find the courses, whereas Candlefox will do proper due diligence and ensure quality leads engage with their platform.

“Not only have Candlefox delivered the product and service they promised, but they have gone above and beyond and provided us with unparalleled insight into the industry and suggestions to further enhance our products, delivery and overall systems.”

Discover a solution that delivers a seamless customer experience and nurtures your prospects in every stage of the student journey. Find out how you can get your courses onto the Candlefox Marketplace. 

Get in touch with the team today.

The Australian Government has announced a year-long extension to the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements scheme. The scheme will continue to increase VET enrolments and employment rates among emerging apprentices and trainees. 

Since its introduction in October 2020, the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy scheme has quickly reached its initial cap of 100,000 subsided wages. 

The Federal Government has announced a demand-driven extension in response to the scheme’s success, valued at $1.2 billion. This package will continue to support education providers and industries to enrol and employ new apprentices and trainees across various occupations. 

The extension will support our industries in building a pipeline of skilled workers to strengthen Australia’s economic recovery post-COVID-19.

The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy is a government initiative aimed at bolstering employment rates amongst apprentices and trainees. The scheme will provide financial support to businesses and Group Training Organisations (GTOs) that take on students before September 2021. 

The scheme offers eligible parties a wage subsidy of up to 50% of the apprentice’s gross wage. This subsidy is valid for a maximum of $7,000 per quarter, per apprentice, for 12 months from the commencement date. 

The wage subsidy is projected to work two-fold.

The scheme is set to combat the fall in apprenticeship and trainee employment due to COVID-19. Our economic recovery is highly contingent on delivering skills training and boosting employment rates.

“These apprentices would likely have been the first to go [in a recession]. Such a loss would have been devastating for our economy as years of training would have been lost and, I suspect, never recovered. We maintained the emerging skills pool that was building, that would be much needed for our economy in the future,” says Minister Michaela Cash.

Businesses and GTOs – the intermediaries between students and host employers – in qualified industries who engage with an Australia apprentice before 30 September 2021 are eligible.

For businesses and GTOs to successfully qualify for the subsidy scheme, they must employ current VET approved Certificate II or higher students who have chosen to complete their studies via an apprenticeship or traineeship in their relevant industry.

The scheme is not limited to a specific list of qualified industries. Instead, the intention is to grasp the interest of a wide array of fields to maximise economic stimulus. 

According to Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, fields that contribute most to our economic recovery are:

It is expected that we build training and employment capabilities in these industries.

The wage subsidy extension enables more employers to take on new apprentices, significantly increasing employment opportunities for emerging workers. As a result, we expect to see an uptake in enquiries from prospective apprentices and trainees.

To capitalise on this, providers should maximise student intake by increasing marketing and lead generation efforts, especially for vocational courses.

There are five fundamental marketing and sales strategies providers can apply to increase their visibility to student prospects.

At Candlefox, we own and operate a global Marketplace of brands that support providers in attracting and enrolling student prospects. Get in touch with the team to find out how you can start generating high-quality students leads with the Candlefox Marketplace.

Get in touch with the team today.

The demand-driven extension of the apprenticeship scheme aims to encourage employers to hire more commencing apprentices. As we slowly move towards COVID normal, the Australian Government will continue to support these businesses to be at the forefront of the push to return Australia’s economy to stability. 

Disruptive technologies and market volatility are challenging the long-term skills viability of our workforce. Experts have called for a reskilling revolution to address the growing skills shortage and prepare Australians for the jobs of tomorrow. 

The move towards the future of work will mean today’s current skills will soon be outdated. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), one-third of today’s global skills will become obsolete by 2025. Workers, employers and education providers are now facing immense pressure to adjust to the changing skill requirements of our labour market.

Below, we unpack the skills of tomorrow and how our VET system can pivot to provide better training for emerging and existing workers.

The world is facing a reskilling emergency – skills shortages are at an all-time high.

The double disruption, caused by COVID-19 and the ongoing digitisation of work, has created a skills imbalance. Many tasks that once required humans are now automated.

Disruptive technologies are changing the core skills of many occupations. Technology-related skills, especially in digital marketing and information technology, will become increasingly necessary by 2025.

Experts predict that today’s average worker will need to gain an additional seven digital skills by 2025 to maintain employability. 

This future of work will require workers to have the specialised skill sets to perform their roles and the capabilities to adapt, innovate and succeed in adverse conditions. As we move towards a skills-based labour market, workers will also need to develop their social capabilities and soft skills. 

Specialised or technical skills are aligned to a specific vocation or task – they form the core skill competencies a worker needs to perform their duties. 

The nature of specialised skills and occupations will change as we continue to adopt more technology into our workplaces. The WEF has identified the top 15 emerging technical skills across the globe (figure 28).  

Among this list are three cross-cutting specialised skills (product marketing, digital marketing and human-computer interaction) that will be crucial to a variety of emerging and progressive professions.

Soft skills are the non-technical, transferable skills that relate to how one works. They are the interpersonal attributes that underpin workplace collaboration and communication, self-management and career development. 

Human-centric skills are becoming more critical with the rise of AI and automation in the workforce. New technologies will place higher demands on workers to manage abstract thinking and problem-solving.

The top 10 soft skills for 2025 are:

“Industry 4.0 will call for employers who possess strong interpersonal skills and a strong understanding of the complex relationship between people and advanced technologies,” says Janet Foutty, Executive Chair of the Board at Deloitte (US).

The pandemic has also heightened the urgency for self-management skills such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility. Employees will need to act more independently and possess better communication skills, particularly in remote workplaces.

Industries are looking to large-scale, systematic reskilling efforts to address our future skill requirements. However, there is a growing consensus that our vocational education and training (VET) system isn’t adapting fast enough to meet the skill needs of Industry 4.0. 

Employers are reporting difficulties in finding VET providers who can deliver the training in disruptive technologies and Industry 4.0. 

Experts are encouraging cross-collaboration from organisations, industries and educational institutions to develop training solutions that best fit the changing nature of our industries. These solutions must analyse and optimise the range of knowledge and skills of current job holders and future workers. 

Our innovative reskilling efforts must be also flexible – expanding to short courses and longer formal qualifications – to accommodate learners of all shapes and sizes.

Training providers will especially need to scale up courses that deliver technical skills training relevant to the emerging skills and jobs of tomorrow. Our current VET market is struggling to keep pace with emerging trends of Industry 4.0, and providers have an obligation to our labour market to fill these shortages. 

The dynamic nature of our education sector means we’ll continue to see advancements in course creation and delivery over the next decade. We’ve created a list of education strategies expected to bring opportunities for providers during Industry 4.0.

There is an urgent need to future-proof the skills and professions of our workforce in the face of mass job displacement. The pandemic has dramatically accelerated our transition into a technologically-driven labour market.

As we accelerate towards a technologically-driven labour market, workers, employers, industries and our VET system must collaborate on a national reskilling movement towards the jobs of tomorrow.

After years of underperformance, the Australian Productivity Commission has set their sights on reform to our multi-billion dollar vocational education and training (VET) sector.

In their latest Skills and Workforce Development Agreement Review, the Commission addresses concerns on declining VET enrolment and completion rates, and the subsequent impacts this has on our workforce’s skills capacity. 

The Commission advocates for an overhaul of the skills-funding agreement between the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, with improvements across the board – apprenticeship programs, student choice, government funding, and more. The proposal will develop a more effective and competitive VET sector capable of building resilient, future-forward workers.

Here are our key takeaways from the report:

As one of Australia’s education pillars, the VET system services millions of students each year. Therefore, delivering high-quality education and training that produces job-ready graduates is a must.

The National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD) was established to guide the Australian, State and Territory governments in the improved delivery of VET services. This agreement was a commitment to a long-term skills reform to support workers in developing the skills they need to effectively participate in our job markets. 

Although the NASWD set national targets to be achieved by 2020, Australian Productivity Commissioner Jonathan Coppel says these targets have not been met. 

“Governments have stepped back from some of the NASWD’s policy aspirations. Targets have not been met and the performance framework has not held governments to account,” says Coppel.

The Commission has proposed a stronger intergovernmental strategy to ensure equal responsibility from all parties in meeting the new NASWD targets, thereby lifting performance.

The new skills proposal follows the same guiding principle as the 2012 agreement  – to bolster the skills of our workforce and increase employment opportunities for all working-age Australians.

Approximately $6.4 billion of government funding is spent on the VET sector each year. Yet, the returns on this have been underwhelming. 

Commissioner Malcolm Roberts calls for regulations to all funding, to monitor and improve the returns of the taxpayer dollars. All governments must show stronger accountability and transparency when spending public funds. 

According to the report, 50% of government funding is allocated towards subsidies to training providers. However, these subsidies are not regulated by the Australian Government and are instead assessed on a case-by-case system. 

“Subsidies should be based on the efficient costs of delivering courses. Having hundreds of different subsidy rates [across our states and territories] is confusing and ineffective… Subsidy rates should be simplified,” says Roberts.

The improved regulation of government funding will be achieved through:

Registered training organisations (RTOs) and TAFEs will be impacted if this recommendation is accepted by all governments. All training providers will receive an equal distribution of public funds and be required to submit financial data to the NCVER.

On the flip side, there is an opportunity for providers to receive more funds to bolster their capacity to educate and train more workers.

We have witnessed a steady decline in the enrolment rates of VET programs in recent years. To encourage more working-age Australians to undertake study, the Commission recommends extending the VET Student Loans (VSL) program to more courses. The expansion of the VSL program ensures workers are continually refreshing and improving their skill sets to meet the evolving demands of the industry. 

The Commission has broken down this recommendation into three actions:

With more student loans made available, we expect to see a spike in enrolment enquiries and student intake for applicable courses.

Providers should closely monitor the expansion of loan caps into applicable courses they offer and take advantage of this by boosting student acquisition efforts.

Contact us today to learn more about attracting high-intent prospective students.

The review has found that subpar user choice has led to low enrolment and completion rates. 

Readily-accessible information is crucial to improving user choice and reducing drop-out rates. Students need better curated, public information to make career decisions. It has been demonstrated that students without adequate information in areas such as course quality, student fees and employment opportunities are more likely to make poor educational choices. 

The Commission recommends all governments, in collaboration with training providers, to:

Training providers will be required to submit the required information, outlined above, to the NCI. The collected information will be displayed publicly on the hub to prospective students, so providers must make sure they provide accurate information.

Providers will also need to demonstrate the ability to improve their quality of services, as indicated by the Employer Questionnaire or complaints received through the VET ombudsman (if any).

The effectiveness of the Australian apprenticeship system has long been in debate. There have been persistent skills shortages in trade occupations, and a large decline in the commencements and completion, 30% and 40% respectively, since 2015. 

The Productivity Commission recommends the following to all governments:

The extent of this reform is still being determined. Providers offering apprenticeship programs should monitor news from the Productivity Commission to keep up with updates.

The Australian Productivity Commission has called for an improved national skills agreement that will pave the way for a more productive and well-rounded workforce.

The Australian Government is currently negotiating a new NASWD with State and Territory governments. We are looking forward to the announcement of a new agreement that will provide increased opportunities for students, employers and VET providers.