Increasing mature-age access to education and training in a way that is responsive to changing labour market needs is a key policy challenge. In this paper we examine the impacts of a unique reform in the Australian state of Victoria that aimed to meet this challenge by introducing a broad-based voucher for those 25 and older. In effect, the reform uncapped public course-level funding and linked it to individual student choice instead of centralised funding allocations. Using national administrative enrolment data and difference-in-differences estimation, exploiting the continuation of existing centralised funding models in other states, we find that the voucher increased mature-age vocational education and training participation and improved the alignment of course enrolments with measures of prevailing skill needs, including enrolments of disadvantaged groups. Our study provides first evidence on the use of broad-based vouchers in vocational education and training to expand access to mature-age learning in a demand-responsive way. These results provide support for policies that put student choice at the centre of efforts to lift mature-age access to training, which is especially important for countries, such as the United States, that have traditionally funded vocational education and training through centralised allocations.

以适应不断变化的劳动力市场需求的方式增加成熟年龄的教育和培训机会是一项关键的政策挑战。在本文中，我们研究了澳大利亚维多利亚州一项独特改革的影响，该改革旨在通过针对25岁及以上的老年人推出基础广泛的代金券来应对这一挑战。实际上，这项改革没有为公共课程提供资金，而是将其与学生的个人选择联系起来，而不是集中供资。利用国家行政管理数据和差异估计，并利用其他州现有的集中化资助模式的延续，我们发现，代金券增加了成熟职业教育和培训的参与程度，并提高了课程招生与普遍水平的一致性。技能需求 包括弱势群体的入学。我们的研究提供了有关在职业教育和培训中使用基础广泛的代金券以需求响应方式扩大获得成熟年龄学习机会的初步证据。这些结果为以学生选择为重点的政策提供了支持，以提高成年人的培训水平，这对于美国等传统上通过集中拨款资助职业教育和培训的国家而言尤其重要。