The legislature has found and hereby declares that the availability of legitimate courses and programs leading to academic degrees offered by responsible private not-for-profit and for-profit institutions of postsecondary education and the existence of legitimate private colleges and universities are in the best interests of the people of this state.

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Business degrees have been offered since at least the 1800s, but they were often considered vocational programs.

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French and American military leaders have offered varying degrees of logistical and diplomatic support for the mission.

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While such specialist degrees are currently only offered by smaller, second-tier business schools, the larger players are watching their success with interest.

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When Microsoft recognized a booming need for IT support to service the networks it powered, it stepped up its giving to US community college programs that offered computer technology degrees.

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Britain, for example, tried for two decades to channel many of the less academic school-leavers into polytechnics that had been set up to provide degrees equal in quality to those offered by the universities, but with a more technical and vocational bent.

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But so far these have offered free courses which do not carry credit towards degrees.

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