by business editor Trevor Sturgess

BAE Systems is hiring a dozen apprentices at its Rochester plant.

In its largest nationwide intake of young recruits in five years, the avionics giant is planning to take on 387 engineering and business apprentices across its UK sites.

Twelve will be assigned to the Rochester-based Electronics Systems business as part of the BAE Systems Skills 2020 programme designed to ensure the company remains competitive into 2020 and beyond.

The announcement comes as Prime Minister David Cameron continues to urge businesses to take on apprentices to stimulate economic growth through manufacturing, exports and infrastructure.

The expansion of BAE Systems’ 2013 apprentice recruitment programme reflects the importance apprentices play in the company coupled with the growing demand among young people for good, fee-free alternatives to university.

Almost 10% of the new recruits will join the five-year Higher Apprentice Programme which combines on-the-job training with the opportunity to study degree-level qualifications without having to pay the typical £9,000 a year university tuition fees.

Managing director Nigel Whitehead said: “Our continued commitment to the apprentice programme reflects the sustainable position of our UK business and the success of the programme in generating BAE Systems’ workforce of the future.

“We like to train people from an early age and find that the combination of on-the-job training and academic study without debt, is a great motivator for our apprentices to stay with us. We look forward to welcoming our new intake in September.”

The new recruits will join a workforce of 35,000.

BAE Systems is the UK’s largest employer of engineers, injecting around £80m a year in education and schools activity, university partnerships and training and development.

Every year, it trains between 800 - 1,000 apprentices on its three year apprenticeship programmes.

The scheme, which has one of the highest completion rates in the engineering sector, was rated “outstanding” by OFSTED in 2010. BAE Systems won the National Apprentice Award for the Macro Employer of the Year in 2011.