The British Council in partnership with the University of Westminster, TiGO and Charter House Ghana, has launched the second season of the groundbreaking, unscripted reality game show at the British Council premises in Accra.
The UK reality TV show is designed to give bright young ambitious Ghanaian university graduates the opportunity to study under postgraduate scholarships in three leading universities in the UK, as well as IPMC in Ghana.
Speaking at the press launch, the British Council director, Moses Anibaba said The Challenge reality show was about aspiration, achievement, fulfillment and providing opportunities for people seeking to access UK education, which is arguably the best in the world.
He noted that The Challenge 2009 seeks to elicit originality, skill, talents and innovation through clever, challenging and fun-filled engagement.
According to him the ultimate winner will walk away with a full board postgraduate scholarship from the University of Westminster with a total value of £40,000, 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 brand new laptop computer.
On completion of the post-graduate course the ultimate prize winner will return to Ghana to take up a pre-arranged lucrative job placement and a brand new car.
Out of thousands of applications, 25 semi-finalists will be selected through a combination of aptitude and psychographic tests, demonstration of academic excellence, leadership competencies as well as character and creativity.
The 25 candidates will undergo a series of interviews by a panel which includes representatives of the three sponsor universities, who will shortlist the candidates to 12 finalists to participate in the reality TV show.
The 12 finalists will receive extensive personal and professional development training and compete against each other in a series of weekly tests, debates, tasks and quizzes in management, leadership, creativity and UK-Ghana trivia.
Depending on performance against the set criteria, three contestants would be nominated by the Board for eviction after three segments of the show. Seven out of the twelve contestants will be evicted over a 12-week period.
The remaining 5 contestants will enter into a final contest to determine the winner of the grand prize.
The two runners-up will receive one year postgraduate scholarships and accommodation from the London Metropolitan and Thames Valley Universities. The third runner-up will receive a scholarship from IPMC to study a post-graduate ICT related program administered jointly by IPMC and Greenwich University.
By George Clifford Owusu
