In 2001, 1.76 million students undertook training in Australia's public vocational education and training (VET) system. Nearly one-third of all Australians between the ages of 15 and 19 years participated in VET. Over the four years from 1998 to 2001, the number of students reported as participating in the public VET system increased by 221,500 (14%). Females accounted for nearly half of all VET students, with the level of female enrolments remaining stable since 1998. More than 58,000 VET students identified themselves as indigenous (an increase of 12% from 2000). Nearly three-fourths of all VET students attended a technical and further education institution, with the remaining students distributed equally between community education providers and "other" registered training providers. The average number of annual hours of study per VET student increased to 215 hours (up from 189 hours in 2000). In 2001, 90% of VET students studied part-time, with the proportion of full-time and part-time students remaining fairly stable from 1998 to 2001 and the proportions of males and females remaining nearly identical during that period. Seventy percent of VET students were studying for a qualification recognized under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), which was 6 percentage points higher than in 1998. Nearly two-thirds of the 430,00 qualifications completed in 2001 were AQF qualifications. (Contains 29 tables/figures.) (MN)