Senior Secondary Certificate Statistical Information 2025 - Section 7
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Section 7: Completion of Victorian Senior Secondary certificates
Data source: 2025 data were extracted from the VCAA corporate database at 7 January 2026 (Published).
If you have any concerns or comments, please contact the Data Analysis and Reporting Unit by emailing: research.vcaa@education.vic.gov.au.
Section 7
Completion of Victorian Senior Secondary Certificates
This section shows the number and percentage of 19 years olds who have completed VCE/VCAL (at Intermediate or Senior certificate level).
The Table below shows over the last 10 years, the number of young people by age 19 who completed the VCE/VCAL (Intermediate or Senior level) has risen from 56,611 in 2016 to 59,420 in 2025. The VCE/VCAL completion rate by age 19 in 2025 was 77%. This is 1.8 percentage points lower than that in 2016.
This Table also shows that:
- By age 19 in 2025, there were 57,956 (55,298 plus 2,658) young people who completed the VCE.
- A decreasing number of young people completed only the VCAL certificate at an Intermediate and/or Senior level. In 2016 there were 7,912 young people aged 19 who completed a VCAL certificate at an Intermediate and/or Senior level. In 2025 this has decreased to 1,464 because VCAL ceased in 2023.
| 19 Year olds cohortc | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VCE/VCAL completion | VCE/VCAL completion rate | ||||||||
| Yeard | VCE only | VCE & VCAL | VCAL only | Total | Population | VCE only | VCE & VCAL | VCAL only | Total |
| 2016 | 48,581 | 118 | 7,912 | 56,611 | 71,857 | 67.6 | 0.2 | 11.0 | 78.8 |
| 2017 | 48,544 | 84 | 7,761 | 56,389 | 71,916 | 67.5 | 0.1 | 10.8 | 78.4 |
| 2018 | 49,354 | 82 | 7,932 | 57,368 | 72,683 | 67.9 | 0.1 | 10.9 | 78.9 |
| 2019 | 50,137 | 70 | 7,751 | 57,958 | 73,341 | 68.4 | 0.1 | 10.6 | 79.0 |
| 2020 | 49,113 | 61 | 7,797 | 56,971 | 72,909 | 67.4 | 0.1 | 10.7 | 78.1 |
| 2021 | 48,166 | 44 | 8,427 | 56,637 | 72,430 | 66.5 | 0.1 | 11.6 | 78.2 |
| 2022 | 48,762 | 39 | 8,774 | 57,575 | 72,554 | 67.2 | 0.1 | 12.1 | 79.4 |
| 2023 | 48,992 | 128 | 8,597 | 57,717 | 72,554 | 67.5 | 0.2 | 11.8 | 79.6 |
| 2024 | 49,902 | 1,683 | 6,160 | 57,745 | 73,400 | 68.0 | 2.3 | 8.4 | 78.7 |
| 2025 | 55,298 | 2,658 | 1,464 | 59,420 | 77,183 | 71.6 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 77.0 |
a The relatively large increase of 2,658 (VCE & VCAL) in 2025 was attributed to 17-year-olds who completed the VCE Vocational Major in 2023 (reform year), and who had previously completed the VCAL Intermediate/Senior. These students then turned 19 years old in 2025, which resulted in the figure of 2,658 reported for 2025.
b Includes satisfactorily completion at an Intermediate and/or Senior level.
c Population figures are sourced from ABS Cat:3101.0, Australian Demographic Statistics, June 2025.
The Estimated Resident Population of 17 year olds two years earlier is used as the population for the aged 19 cohort. This is to mitigate the impact of migration of young people after leaving school. The adoption of this age group for the calculation of completion rate by age 19 is consistent with DET’s approach. In the previous report, the population of 19 year olds was used as a denominator to calculate the completion rates.
d The 2021 - 2025 estimated resident population figures are preliminary.