Ms Rochira said she accepted there had been a more rigorous approach by the NHS in Wales and Welsh government to the issue of the dignity of older people undergoing hospital care.

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Education Secretary Michael Gove has previously called for a more academically rigorous approach to A-levels with greater involvement from universities.

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Still, Dr Michel and his team hope that their approach will spur a more rigorous, quantitative approach to the study of human culture.

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It boasts that in the last couple of years it has been working hard behind the scenes to impose a more coherent and rigorous approach on the various pay review bodies that cover most of the important public-sector workers.

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However, the education secretary will insist that his overall approach lives on ie "more rigorous" end-of-year exams will replace continuous modular assessment, and school league tables will depend in future on how pupils do in 8 core subjects not, as some Conservatives believe, on how many kids passed the re-sit of their macrame module.

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It may be that the more the concept of apprenticeship and the concept of a rigorous vocational approach is incorporated in the high schools so the kids can actually see a direct connection to what they're learning and a potential career, they're less likely to drop out and we're going to see more success.

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Larger, more rigorous clinical trials of gadolinium-texaphyrin have just started, and the approach is also being tried for prostate, pancreatic and neck tumours.

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