Drivers of Student Training Choices--A Focus on Student Support Services--Support Document 2

This report summarises the results of a discrete choice experiment (DCE) investigating how preferences for vocational education and training (VET) courses are influenced by various forms of student support offerings. Three forms of support were included in the DCE: (1) health and welfare support; (2) career counselling and job search support; and (3) tutoring and study skills guidance. Each varied in the level to which a hypothetic VET course provider offered the form of support, ranging from not offered at all, to group sessions and resources, to personalised one-on-one support offerings. Other VET course attributes known to influence student choice (price, delivery mode, travel time) were also included in the experiment to make the scenarios presented realistic and quantify the extent to which supports shaped prospective student choices relative to these. In combination, the three forms of support investigated represented approximately 26% of the total importance when deciding on a VET course (10% tutoring and study skills, 7.9% health and welfare, 7.8% career counselling). Respondents had a notably higher utility for one-on-one level support for tutoring and study skills relative to group-level offerings, although any provision of the three forms of support increased respondent preferences to select a course. Supports tended to be inelastic, meaning the demand for these services was not strongly impacted by course price. [For the full report, see ED629801.]