It appears that numbers of entrants applying for Computer Science at University in the Uk is falling, so Queen Mary College, University of London, have come up with an interesting approach...
Code your way to a free degree
An internet treasure hunt is being used to entice students to study computing at a London university. Queen Mary College, part of the UK's University of London, is offering budding programmers the chance to win their way to college via a web competition.
Aimed at 16 and 17 year-olds the competition offers a variety of challenges culminating in writing a computer programme.
There will also be a quiz to find out how much competitors know about Computer Science as well as other tests of their mathematical and logical thinking skills.
Full story here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2808485.stm

And Queen Mary College's page about it here http://www.qmw.ac.uk/poffice/nr131202.shtml

Tis a shame its only aimed for 16 to 17 year olds, cuz I know a few older people who'd be interested