Senior Secondary Certificate Statistical Information 2019

Section 1: Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)

Data source: 2019 data were extracted from the VCAA Assessment Processing System (APS) database at 3 January 2020 (Published).

If you have any concerns or comments, please contact the Data Analysis, Measurement and Reporting Unit on (03) 9032 1784.

Section 1

In Victoria there are two certificates of senior secondary education, they are the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). This section covers the VCE, and information about VCAL is in Section 5 (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning).

1. Victorian Certificate of Education

VCE completion is calculated on the basis of satisfactory completion of units. Refer to the VCE and VCAL Administrative Hand book for the regulations, which may be found on the VCAA website.

Table 1.1: VCE Participation and Completion, 2015 - 2019¹
Students	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Eligible to complete the VCE	50,610	50,840	52,058	51,999	50,292
Satisfactorily completed VCE	49,460	49,801	50,908	50,981	49,366
Percentage of VCE completions	97.7	98.0	97.8	98.0	98.2

Table 1.2: VCE Participation and Completion by Gender, 2019
Gender	Eligibles	Completions	% Completions
Female	27,006	26,597	98.5
Male	23,249	22,733	97.8
Gender X	37	36	97.3
All	50,292	49,366	98.2

The VCE (Baccalaureate) is an additional form of recognition for those students who choose to undertake the demands of studying both a higher level of mathematics and a language in their VCE program of study. Refer to the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook for the regulations, which may be found on the VCAA website.

Table 1.3: VCE Baccalaureate Awarded, 2015 - 2019 ²
	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Number of Students	4,033	3,808	3,939	4,052	3,755

2. Unit Enrolments and Completions

2.1 VCE Units

Table 2.1.1: VCE Unit Enrolments and Completions by Unit Level and Gender, 2019
(excluding credit gained through VET in Senior Secondary Schools)
	Units Enrolled				Units Satisfactorily Completed				% Satisfactorily Completed
Gender	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4
Female	177,050	171,361	145,180	141,995	168,852	164,818	142,943	140,786	95.4	96.2	98.5	99.1
Male	160,409	155,893	123,779	120,485	150,362	147,654	121,107	118,947	93.7	94.7	97.8	98.7
Gender X	258	232	209	195	218	196	206	191	84.5	84.5	98.6	97.9
All	337,717	327,486	269,168	262,675	319,432	312,668	264,256	259,924	94.6	95.5	98.2	99
% Female	52.4	52.3	53.9	54.1	52.9	52.7	54.1	54.2
% Male	47.5	47.6	46	45.9	47.1	47.2	45.8	45.8
% Gender X	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1

Note that the participation of those students who withdrew during the year without an outcome recorded against their unit enrolments were removed from the dataset. Section 2 (Satisfactory Completion of VCE Units) provides more detailed information of unit participation and completions by study and sequence.

Table 2.1.2: VCE Units 1-4 Total Enrolments and Completions by Gender, 2019
(excluding credit gained through VET in Senior Secondary Schools)
Gender	Enrolments	Completions	% Completions
Female	635,586	617,399	97.1
Male	560,566	538,070	96.0
Gender X	894	811	90.7
All	1,197,046	1,156,280	96.6
% Female	53.1	53.4
% Male	46.8	46.5
% Gender X	0.1	0.1

There were a total of 1,197,046 VCE unit enrolments in 2019 of 96.6% were successfully completed. With the introduction of the Northern Hemisphere Timetable (NHT) there were 814 students from 22 home schools with total 3,726 unit enrolments at units 1-4 in 2018/2019. The vast majority of NHT students were based in China.

The female completion rate was 97.1% while the male completion rate was 96%. Females comprised 53.1% of the total unit enrolments while male comprised 46.8%. Females comprised 53.4% of the total unit completions while males comprised 46.5%.

2.2 VCE VET Units

Students gain credit toward VCE VET units by successfully completing a prescribed number of hours of Units of Competence.

Table 2.2: Equivalent VCE VET Unit Credits Gained Through
VET Units of Competence (UoC), 2019
Gender	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4
Female	16,957	11,885	9,259	7,306
Male	23,114	16,228	10,408	8,401
Gender X	29	18	15	10
All	40,100	28,131	19,682	15,717
% Female	42.3	42.2	47.0	46.5
% Male	57.6	57.7	52.9	53.5
% Gender X	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1

3. Outcomes of VCE Graded Assessment 2019

Students undertaking Units 3 and 4 sequences will in most cases participate in Graded Assessment. Section 3 (Grade Distributions for Graded Assessments VCE) provides more detailed information on the outcomes for each study where Graded Assessment is available. All VCE studies have three Graded Assessments in each Unit 3-4 sequence, while the VCE VET programs with scored assessment have two Graded Assessments.

In summary, the most awarded grade in 2019 was B comprising 15.5% of the distribution. The median grade was a B, with 56.4% of grades at a B or higher. Table 3.1 shows the number of grades awarded (N), and the percentage awarded per grade. The table includes data for both the VCE Unit 3-4 sequences and the VCE VET scored programs.

Table 3.1: Aggregate Grade Distributions All Graded Assessments, 2019
(VCE Units 3-4 Sequences and VCE VET Scored Programs)
Grade	UG	E	E+	D	D+	C	C+	B	B+	A	A+	All
N	3,085	5,756	17,034	36,620	63,578	89,508	113,438	117,236	114,635	108,530	85,950	755,370
%	0.4	0.8	2.3	4.8	8.4	11.8	15.0	15.5	15.2	14.4	11.4	100.0

These figures are derived from VCAA information in January and include overseas students. Students who have successfully achieved their VCE in previous years but undertook further studies in the current year are included.
The number students that were awarded VCE Baccalaureate are also included in Table 1.1: VCE Participation and Completion, 2015 - 2019 and Table 1.2: VCE Participation and Completion by Gender, 2019.

Back to 2019 VCE, VCE VET and VCAL statistical information page