This publication provides a detailed description of Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system in the context of Australians living in rural and remote regions who undertook some form of VET in 1997--about one-third of all students who participated in training in public institutions. The nine sections of the report cover the following topics: (1) geographic regions; (2) highlights--Australia 1997; (3) diversity of VET; (4) students in more detail; (5) courses in more detail; (6) modules in more detail; (7) distance and studying by correspondence; (8) outcomes of VET graduates; and (9) apprentices and trainees. Some highlights of 1997 VET activities of students living in rural and remote areas of Australia include: almost 415,000 students from rural areas and more than 48,000 students from remote areas undertook VET programs in 1997; 83 million hours of rural and remote VET were delivered; rural and remote students take fewer hours of VET than students in cities; students in remote areas are less likely to be unemployed; students in rural and remote areas are slightly likely to be older than their metropolitan counterparts; and only one-third of rural and remote students have completed secondary education. (KC)