Accra, Feb. 24, GNA - The Season II of the UK Educational Reality TV Show "The Challenge" designed to give bright, young and ambitious Ghanaian university graduates the opportunity to study under postgraduate scholarships at three leading universities in the United Kingdom (UK) as well as IPMC in Ghana was on Tuesday launched in Accra.

Out of 3,000 applications received, 1,000 young graduates availed themselves to go through a combination of aptitude and psychographic tests, demonstration of academic excellence, leadership competencies, character, as well as creativity. Twenty-four candidates were selected from the number of applicants out of which 12 candidates were short-listed to participate in the TV reality show. The 12 finalists would receive extensive personal and professional development training and compete against each other in a series of weekly tests, debates, tasks and quiz in management, leadership and creativity.

The ultimate winner would win a full postgraduate scholarship from the University of Westminster valued at 40,000 pounds, including fully paid accommodation in an international students' hostel, a monthly living allowance, a return air ticket to the UK valid for one year and a new laptop computer. On completion of the postgraduate course the ultimate prize winner will return to Ghana to pick up a pre-arranged lucrative job placement and a brand new car. The second and third placed candidates would receive one-year postgraduate scholarship and accommodation from London Metropolitan and Thames Valley Universities respectively. A fourth candidate would receive a scholarship from IPMC to study for postgraduate ICT related programme administered jointly by IPMC and Greenwich University.

Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, Minister of Youth and Sports, speaking at the launch said the education reality show gave expression to important aspects of what the youth aspired to in terms of education and job opportunities as well as the aspiration to excel among their peers. He said the education of the youth should open up good employment opportunities and give them incentive to take education seriously. "We need to increase and improve youth access to quality education, make more capital available to them to embark on productive ventures, invest in science and technical training of the youth in relevant skills."

Alhaji Mubarak said young people constituted the most socially active and energetic segment of the population of every country and as such their energy, creativity and dynamism were among society's most productive assets which had to be harnessed effectively for development. He said for the youth to excel society had to invest in them in order to derive the value that was innate in them and give them the impetus to succeed.