Have you heard of CompTIA's NITAS (National IT Apprenticeship System) program?
Very cool. I've sent that link off to my boss. We've won an award for the way we teach (Open Source Education) and we emphasize hands-on versus straightout testing. I know that for our last two semesters we've had 100% employment in our Co-op program (and had jobs left over!) so I figure we're doing something right. This might be something we could do with our Applied degree program.