Compétition Inter-Universitaire

The Compétition Inter-Universitaire is a television quiz programme in the People's Democratic Social Republic of Ariddia. Every year, Ariddia's thirteen universities (including the Third World Open University in Cité-Belle but not the universities in Limea) send two teams of five students each to compete against one another, until the country's two best teams go face to face in a final.

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The competition is open to all Ariddian universities by right, but occasionally other institutes of advanced learning are invited to take part, and universities and institutes from Limea also sometimes participate.

The programme is quite popular in Ariddia, and is seen as typical of the generally "high-brow" entertainment offered by Ariddian television. The questions put to the students are often very difficult, and cover an extremely vast range of topics, so universities must put together a team whose members, together, are knowledgeable in a wide variety of fields (from physics to history, foreign politics, architecture, music, literature and biology, for example).

Foreign students are allowed to compete without discrimination, and the teams from the Third World Open University often comprise significant numbers of talented students from other other Third World countries. The teams from the University of Rêvane - statistically the most successful - also often contain at least one foreign student.

It is not uncommon for the teams from the University of Rêvane to both reach the semi-finals or even the final, but upsets are also frequent, making the ultimate outcome of the competition difficult to predict.

Jane Ranomezanjanahary-Souvanhnavongsa-Fincfeuiaki, currently Ariddia's ambassador to Omigodtheykilledkenny, took part in the Compétition Inter-Universitaire for two consecutive years, representing the University of Rêvane; her team reached the semi-final in both years. Lucy Shawe, now Ariddia's ambassador to Ausserland, once took part in a team from the University of Val Wneh. And Abel Moeaki, perhaps Ariddia's most famous contemporary writer and a Professor of Literature at Haven University, took part in a special edition for university staff rather than students.

Perhaps the most successful famous participant was Yasmine Adeleke, currently a Professor of Mathematics at the Technische Universiteit Arcadia in Uhuh-Topia, who led a team from Espérence University to two consecutive victories. On her third participation, she made it to the quarter-finals, losing to the University of Rêvane. It was in part due to these successful appearances in Compétition Inter-Universitaire that Ms. Adeleke became known as "the smartest brain in Ariddia".