The consortia wanted a qualification, offered to educators, that would encourage them to use entrepreneurship within their teaching.
The production line on Merseyside is performing above the statistical norm, while its two historic top-flight clubs pursue Champions League football and the £40m qualification offers.
The key is to think about what each qualification offers: how practical and vocational the courses are, and to look at what types of employment their graduates pursue.
Although there are already some qualification offers available for enterprises to support resource efficiency innovations, the high potentials that can be identified especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have not been activated until now.
Andrew Hutchinson, executive head of Parkside Federation which runs the two schools, acknowledges that it was a risk, but says the international qualification offered both a more rigorous approach and a better route into A-levels.
Ziggy Liaquat, managing director of the Edexcel exam board, said: What I would say is, when I talk to teachers and students, one of the things they say to me is the principle learning has real value, and is a strong part of the qualification offered.
Most of them had an academic level of less than Malawi School Certificate of Education (an academic qualification offered at the end of 4 years of successful high school education) and were not working (11/16 and 12/16 respectively).
However, we also recognise that different qualifications offer different types of preparation for undergraduate study, and we carefully take this into account when we set our entry requirements.
Scientific research and development provide the UK with genuine prospects for economic growth and I am delighted that many young people are aware of the opportunities that science qualifications offer them".
I'd like those types of qualifications offered in mainstream schools and for them to be given the same respect.
