United Kingdom to begin spy apprenticeships

London: "Catch them young" is an old adage.

Taking cue from this, Britain has for the first time, decided to recruit 100 young apprentice spies without university degrees in a bid to woo the next generation of tech-savvy espionage experts to combat modern threats.

The scheme will be announced by British Foreign Secretary William Hague during a visit to Bletchley Park where code-breakers helped to shorten World War II.

Mr Hague will talk of the need to find and nurture the next generation of code-breakers and computer scientists to work against modern threats, the BBC reported.

The aim of the scheme is to find up to 100 new recruits, primarily for the communications intelligence agency, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, the successor to Bletchley Park.

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The scheme will focus on attracting talented young people who may have vocational qualifications in science, technology or engineering, but who do not necessarily have a degree.

Commenting on the move, Mathematics professor Barry Cooper from Leeds University, who is an expert on Bletchley code-breaker Alan Turing, welcomed the initiative.

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"A lot of it depends on young people, it depends on people being interested in the science and having the means to pursue their interests.

"The way in which the government is now thinking about this seems really encouraging."

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During the visit, Mr Hague will pay tribute to the men and women whose work at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes helped crack German and Japanese secret codes during World War II.

Experts believe the work done by the code-breakers may have shortened the war by up to two years, the report said.