Reality TV has come to campus with a US series that pits students against each other for the prize of full university tuition fees in what is being called "the first show ever to celebrate higher education as the ultimate American prize".

The Scholar , on the ABC network, can be seen as a symbol of the extraordinary expense of higher education in the US - the prize is valued at $240,000 (Pounds 132,000).

Ten students will compete in the six-part series, which is to be filmed at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southern California.

The producers, who include the actor and writer Steve Martin, call the show "aspirational", in the same genre as series that offer makeovers, bring together couples for romantic liaisons or transform unsightly houses into tasteful homes.

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"Every student in this country should be entitled to a college education," Mr Martin said. "We intend to empower both students and parents with the knowledge that a higher education is realistic and attainable for everyone."

Students' intensive personal interviews with a scholarship committee will be taped, and they will be subjected to pressure-filled sudden-death exams, brain-teasers, maths and physics challenges, and leadership tests.

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The producers include the company behind MTV's The Real World , forerunner of Big Brother . The $240,000 scholarship comes from philanthropist Eli Broad, whose foundation is a major backer of higher education in the US.