In December 1995, the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) of Monash University in Victoria, Australia, conducted a 2-day conference on the economic impact of vocational education and training (VET). The following topics were among those discussed in the conference papers: the major changes that have been occurring in the size, structure, and objectives of education in Australia; the international context for VET (as perceived by an expert from North America, Professor Grubb, and an expert from Europe, Dr. Bertrand); structural change in Australian industry and its implications for VET; the lack of a national approach to VET in Australia; the structure, size, composition, and balance of the VET system in Australia following the training market reforms of the Keating government; effects of different forms of postschool education on the earnings of full-time employees; recent and continuing research on VET in which the CEET is involved; the need for and a framework for an international, global perspective on work and training; skills required by small high-tech exporters; VET at the enterprise level; current issues in VET in the United States at the secondary and postsecondary levels; competency-based training in Australia; and the link between VET and industrial relations. (MN)