Dennis is winner of ‘The Scholarship’ 2016
Published On Tue 8 Nov 2016 by Grant Hill
This year’s winner of ‘The Scholarship’, the Apprentice-style radio reality show that offers talented Ghanaian students the chance to win a fully paid postgraduate place in Scotland, has matriculated at the University of Dundee.
Dennis Asare’s prize, worth £30,000, includes a one-year postgraduate scholarship for the MSc Energy Studies course and travel, living, and learning material allowances. The initiative is a joint collaboration operated by Accra-based radio station Joy FM and educational consultancy firm Go Study Abroad.
Each hour-long instalment of The Scholarship features interviews and debates designed to test the knowledge and resolve of university graduates live on radio. Listeners vote for their favourite candidate while judges assess the performance of each contestant. The final was held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra and saw Dennis and two other finalists battle through round after round. After the customary dramatic pause, 24-year-old Dennis was named as the winner of The Scholarship 2016.
“I was surprised to win because there were so many intelligent young people from Ghana in the competition,” said 24-year-old Dennis. “I had heard about the University and, in particular, CEPMLP so when the show offered a way to progress to Dundee I had to apply. The show has made Dundee very popular in my home town of Kumasi. A lot of people have asked me how they can apply to come here.
“This is a wonderful opportunity. It will give me the skills and knowledge to go back to Ghana and make a real difference in our energy sector. The industry needs support to grow, especially in the policy area, and this is why this partnership is so good for us.”
‘The Scholarship’ was the brainchild of Go Study Abroad in response to an acknowledged shortage of individuals in Ghana with the skills and training to help the country’s natural resources sector develop. The company, who work with several UK universities, recognised that CEPMLP was the leading provider of natural resources law, policy and management education and asked management to become their host institution.
The show has proven transformative for its two previous winners. Inaugural champion Dennis Akande is currently working as an Energy Data Scientist in Cape Verde while season two winner Joseph Nii Tettey Ashong recently had a paper examining Ghana’s energy policies published in Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review.
Dennis, who has already demonstrated his commitment to giving back to Dundee by signing up as an international student ambassador, continued, “It is a very supportive environment here. The lecturers have been really helpful and there is a community of African students which has helped me settle in. The only thing I need to get used to is the weather!”
CEPMLP Director Professor Peter Cameron said, “The Scholarship has enabled CEPMLP to massively increase its profile in Ghana and throughout Africa. It is a pleasure to welcome Dennis to Dundee. He showed great intelligence and aptitude in winning the show and I am sure he will, like the two previous winners, make the most of this opportunity. The University aims to transform lives and that is exactly what this initiative is doing.”
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