PLANS to offer students tailor-made vocational courses from the age of 14 were announced at the Labour Party conference last week.

The shake-up means pupils will no longer be expected to study the same subjects, at the same pace and sit the same exams as their counterparts of the same age.

Instead, they will be free to choose the "academic" or "vocational" pathway - though the Government prefers the terms "general" or "specialist" - that suits them best.

This allows the more able students to press on with their studies faster, others who are better advised to concentrate on fewer qualifications, to do so, and anyone vocationally orientated to pursue their interests.

The Government expects to create 750,000 new jobs in the next decade - from medical technicians to aircraft engineers and teaching assistants.

And all professions will benefit from having a wider and better trained skill pool to choose from.

"It's a move in the right direction," said Dr David Jack, managing director of Yamazaki Machinery UK, whose headquarters are at Badgeworth Drive, Warndon, in Worcester.

"The devil is in the details, of course, but I think the idea of vocational training at the age of 16, while remaining in a school environment, is a good one.

"You need a spectrum of skills and knowledge in industry - such as maths up to GCSE level - and as long as the courses provide this, it seems a positive move.

"But it goes without saying that businesses would wish to have some input as to the form of training that this new type of education would take."

And construction giant Costain, which recently invited pupils from The King's School, in Worcester, to its exhibition "Who Will Build Tomorrow?" applauded the step.

Construction employs around two million people, has a turnover of around £100bn and accounts for 10 per cent of the UK's GDP, yet university places focusing on the industry fell by 45 per cent between 1994 and 2000.

Against this background, the firm has handed its own incentives to students with 40 work placements, 12 sixth form sponsorships and 20 sponsored degrees on offer.

"Our industry is both exciting and varied. However, we must do more to promote career opportunities to the young," said Stuart Doughty, Costain Group Chief Executive.

"They will be responsible for tomorrow and it is essential that we gain their attention today."

Jeremy Galpin, Human Resources man-ager at Costain Ltd said: "Costain wel-comes the increased emphasis on vocational qualifications, as there is a substantial shortage of skilled people entering construc-tion.

"As a successful and growing business we need high calibre graduates but, just as importantly, we also need high calibre people with practical vocational skills."

And the move has been backed by yesterday's announcement that a further 10,000 full-time places would be created on Foundation courses next year, with 1,000 in the West Midlands.

Institutions across the county are being invited to bid for the additional places, as well as part of the £550,000 on offer to run the courses.

The move is aimed directly at increasing the number of graduates with specific vocational skills to meet the needs of the workforce.

"Higher education does not mean more of the same," said the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, Alan Johnson.

"We need expansion to reflect the needs of the economy and the economy is telling us it needs more graduates with specific skills at a particular level."

And Mr Johnson hit back at the stigma that has, for some years, been attached to vocational training courses.

"Foundation degrees are higher education degrees of academic rigour and clear vocational relevance," he said.

"There is still a snobbery in the UK about technical colleges and vocational courses but this is a move to combat this because academic studies and skills training are equally important.

"They are proving successful and popular which is why it is right to create an additional 1,000 places in the Midlands in September 2004."

The "vocational" pathway may be on offer from next September, but it will take longer to change the mindset that clever students will stay at schools and universities, and the less academic will take the new option.

But as long as the Government can achieve this, businesses are more than prepared to throw their support behind the biggest education reform for 60 years.