Ten brilliant-but-needy students of the Central University (CU) have benefited from the Barclays Bank Ghana Educational Scholarship programme.

The scholarship initiative is one of the Bank’s ways of deepening its commitment to help solve the youth unemployment challenge through its education and skills development programmes under its Shared Growth Agenda.

This was made known on Wednesday by the Director, Marketing and Corporate Relations of Barclays Bank Ghana, Ms. Nana Essilfuah Boison, at a special ceremony, at the Miotso Campus of the university.

Presenting the award to the beneficiaries, Ms. Boison said Central University was selected because of its strides in the provision of education in Ghana, adding that, “We made a conscious effort to include Central University because we’re aware of what you stand for and your contribution to education.”

She indicated that going forward, the Bank would support studies in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Science in order to develop more man power in these areas.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) of the CU, Professor John Ofosu-Anim, expressed the University’s appreciation to Barclays and assured them of the CU’s preparedness to help the beneficiaries put their scholarships to good use.

The Dean of Students of CU, Rev. Dr. Fred Brako, expressed gratitude to Barclays Bank Ghana Ltd for the gesture, and invited them to partner with the university by sponsoring other non-academic programmes like sports.

He called on the beneficiaries to study and improve their academic performance in order to remain on the scholarship scheme.

A sum of GHC 101,292.60 was presented to the university as the total package for a year.

The Barclays Tertiary Scholarship, a Pan-African programme initiated by the Barclays Africa Group, is a full scholarship package of about Ghc10,000 per beneficiary, covering tuition, academic user facility fees, accommodation, students’ dues, book allowance, general upkeep as well as laptops.

The keenly contested scholarship slots were based on academic performance and rigorous screening and selection processes spanning a year. One hundred and ninety-five students from 13 public and private universities in Ghana have benefited so far from this package.

The beneficiary universities for the scholarship scheme are: Central University, UCC, KNUST, UG,UPSA, Ghana Technology University College, All Nations University College, Methodist University College, UDS, Presbyterian University College, University of Energy and Renewable Resources.