The U.S. intelligence community pours millions of U.S. dollars into higher education, paying for hundreds of scholarships, intelligence-related courses and fellowships at nearly a dozen universities, the USA Today newspaper reported Tuesday.

More than 16 million dollars has been appropriated for courses and overseas fellowships in Middle Eastern and South Asian language studies, engineering, computer science, analytical thinking, Islamic studies and other specialties since the programs began in 2004.

The new programs differ from earlier government assistance plans such as the Title VI fellowships and the National Security Education Program. Those programs sponsor language study for students interested in careers in foreign affairs but are not tied to intelligence agencies, the report said.

Intelligence agencies also pay for internships and summer "spy camps" aimed at attracting high school students to study intelligence, according to the newspaper.

The programs recognize that 21st-century intelligence officers need skills that can "translate to a variety of areas," Lenora Peters Gant, who runs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's university outreach program, was quoted as saying.

"We want to hire an engineer that understands world cultures and religions and speaks Urdu and Farsi or maybe Korean. That's where (intelligence) is going," he said.

The programs also target more women and minorities, Gant said. Three of the 10 schools backed by the agency are historically black colleges. More than 90 percent of students at a fourth college are women, the report said.

Among the programs is the "Centers of Academic Excellence," which is sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and underwrites course development and summer travel for intelligence community scholars and furnishes intelligence professionals as guest lecturers and mentors.

Another program is the "Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program," which is sponsored by various agencies and offers stipends up to 50,000 dollars to undergraduates and graduate students pursuing scientific or technical specialties or studying languages including Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Tajik and Uzbek.

Source: Xinhua