The Australian Qualifications Framework has 12 levels of qualifications across senior secondary school level, TAFE and higher education. In TAFE, there are six levels,some of which overlap with courses offered at secondary school and at university. Bachelor Degree Advanced Diploma Diploma Advanced Diploma Diploma Certificate 4 Certificate 3 Senior Secondary Certificate of Education Certificate 2 Certificate 1 Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas vary in length, but most are the equivalent of two or three years full time study, and require the pre-requisite of a senior secondary school certificate. They are publicly accountable and responsible,with a long history of service to the community. In Victoria, there are more than 315,000 TAFE students, studying on more than 100 campuses at 24 TAFE Institutes and four universities with TAFE sectors.
Institutes vary in size.
Small Institutes in regional cities may have less than 5000 students, while major metropolitan Institutes have more than 25,000 students spread across three to six campuses. The institutes employ more than10,000 trained staff. In addition to the TAFE Institutes, Victoria has led the way in encouraging the development of a quality private training market. There are now more than 500 organisations who are registered with the State Training Board to conduct TAFE training which has been approved through an accreditation process. These include many enterprises which offer workplace training to their employees, community training organisations, and commercial training organisations which charge tuition fees.