Wandering through bookshops or browsing online suppliers, it is sometimes difficult to remember that for would-be writers the chances of ever being published are very small. Fewer than two per cent of unsolicited manuscripts ever see the light of day and although every publisher is on the look out for the next new voice, unpublished writers have to make their way past a daunting array of obstacles, not least of which is the growing number of established writers.

Despite this depressing statistic, more people than ever before are studying writing in different colleges and universities around Australia and as we begin celebrating the past 20 years of Professional Writing and Editing, it seems a good time to reflect on where the program stands at the moment, what has contributed to its success and what the future might bring.

The TAFE Professional Writing and Editing program (PWE) is offered at a number of universities and colleges in Victoria and has proved to be one of the most versatile and successful writing programs around today. Here at RMIT the program enjoys a very strong reputation, its high rate of publication and employment attracting students from around Australia with very little advertising beyond word of mouth. This puts the program in an enviable position, as of course success breeds success. The more publicly successful our students are, the more serious applicants we attract and so on.

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The thing that strikes people first when they enrol in PWE is the diversity of its student body and over the years it has become clear how much this diversity enriches the program and contributes to its success. Students range in age from school leavers to people in their seventies and, for many, training to be a writer and/or an editor is a complete change in direction from their careers as lawyers, hairdressers, event managers and scientists - just to name a few. Some are fulfilling a long-held dream of changing careers entirely and have saved enough money to study full time for two years in order to do this. Others are working and studying, their fees sometimes paid by their workplace as the writing skills they are gaining are seen as integral to what they do.

Our mature-age students bring a great deal to the program - broad-based skills, the enthusiasm of the newly converted and a rich context in which to apply their new skills. Younger students bring a freshness of approach and a powerful refusal to recognise obstacles.

Creating this successful mix of students starts with selection, which is always an interesting and time-consuming process . Each application of approximately 2000 words is read by two teachers and around 100 applicants are then interviewed. This allows us to select students who will be best able to take advantage of the program and whose expectations match what we offer. We are keen to select not only those with the potential to find employment in an extremely competitive industry but also those who will also help create a climate in which others will be encouraged to succeed. Overwhelmingly, our students say that one of the most valuable things they get out of the program is sharing their work with other like-minded students. Every year we discuss the application process in the hope of simplifying it and every year we again come to the conclusion that there is no better way of managing it.

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Another reason for the program's appeal is its flexibility and the breadth of its content. It means we can fit around students' individual needs and help to map a path that suits them. Most of our students are part time and the program is made up almost entirely of elective courses - an administrative nightmare but one that allows students to tailor their program to their needs and develop their core strengths while exploring different kinds of writing. To earn a living, writers can either write a little and sell a lot of it or they can diversify and write for different markets, which is more realistic in Australia. The nature of competencies means we can offer a broad range of courses, from Creative Fiction through different forms of genre writing to Journalism, Desktop Publishing and Editing. Many of the areas cross over, reflecting the reality of what writers and editors experience when they are working. As a TAFE program we can also respond quickly to demand from students or from industry and change the format in which we offer our courses. We provide the flexibility of separate streams, combinations of courses across the streams and single-course enrolment. Again as a TAFE program we are also able to offer skill sets, enterprise training and recognition of work previously done within the industry.

This strong connection with industry means that students in their final year are working on real projects for real employers. Knowing where to place work is as important as knowing how to write it, and because our teachers are all practitioners, this knowledge is both comprehensive and current. By keeping a judicious mix of contract and sessional teachers, we create a strong, nurturing support base for students that allows them to develop their skills while connecting them with up-to-date practice.

There is something gratifyingly tangible about a published book and like any artefact created for visual impact the effect is both definite and immediate. However, the bulk of what is happening in the writing and editing industry is not nearly as public. Our students go on to work in many different areas and on a wide range of publications, from mainstream newspapers to niche publications. They also work in the corporate sector, in electronic publishing, and as communication officers, freelance writers, copywriters and, of course, editors.

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Indeed, the editing component of Professional Writing and Editing sets our program apart from the other writing courses and gives it that important edge. Studying Editing alongside the writing courses reinforces the broad holistic approach of the program and gives our students a twofold advantage. Publishing houses rarely have the resources to work with a new writer on developing an early draft of their work, however exciting that draft may be. Many writers send their work off unedited, thereby denying themselves their best chance of being published. Manuscripts that show promise but are poorly edited run the risk of losing out to more pedestrian articles and books that have been well edited. The other major advantage of having a strong editing stream is that PWE graduates work as editors in most Melbourne publishing houses. This kind of network is invaluable when so many publishers these days are not even accepting unsolicited manuscripts.

So at the moment PWE is in a good place - the seeds planted 20 years ago have borne fruit and by adapting to changes in education and industry the program has survived and developed, giving a new generation of emerging writers and editors the tools for success in a very competitive industry. What will happen in the future depends on us remaining open to these changes - the next of which will surely be the proposed adjustments to TAFE funding. One of the great strengths of the TAFE system has always been its affordability and its accessibility and it is difficult to see PWE surviving in its present form if this access and affordability become things of the past.