Later Mr Woodhead welcomed the two-year vocationally-orientated foundation degrees announced earlier this month by the Education Secretary, David Blunkett.

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In his speech, Mr Blunkett also pressed universities to offer two-year vocationally-oriented degrees.

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Traditional higher education has historically done a lackluster job of offering vocationally-oriented education programs and meeting the needs of non-traditional students.

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The rise of the new, more vocationally oriented degree, often at the expense of older, academic degrees, follows a trend set in America.

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Taking this into consideration, the comprehensive nature of the programme can be said to transcend a merely academic and vocationally focussed curriculum to accommodate a broader field of learning directed at the development of the human being as a whole.

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