Callum Taylor, who lives in Bullers Green, is one of 100 school and college leavers from across England selected to take part in the Prime Minister's Global Fellowship, a new scheme which gives them the opportunity to experience first-hand some of the major new economic powers.

The 18-year-old will head out to Shanghai in China on July 17 with 39 other members and will return on September 1, with the trip divided into three blocks of two weeks.

The first two weeks will be spent on a cultural programme introducing them to life and language in the country, which includes staying with a family.

In the middle part, they will be based at a school or college where they will meet local young people, help as a language assistant and pursue a research project in groups.

The Fellows will be guests of an international company in the last two weeks, to understand how it operates on a global scale. Participating firms include Cadbury Schweppes, HSBC, Shell, Tesco and Virgin Atlantic.

Callum said: "It's going to be an absolutely amazing experience, especially as I'm not going to get the chance to do something like this again.

"There's going to be a lot of hard work when I'm out there, but I can't wait to see Chinese culture and also how a huge, modern city like Shanghai works.

"I have been to the USA, Australia and Jamaica, but never to Asia so it will be very interesting to learn their way of life, although I think we can teach them a few things as well."

When Callum, who recently completed his A Levels at King Edward VI School, got through the initial application stage he went to Manchester for a day which included an interview and teamwork tasks.

And by being selected for the Fellowship, he will also get the chance to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street and participate in 'Good Entrepreneurship Week' in November.

"The group in Manchester had a media message from him, which shows how committed he is to the project, and it will be fantastic to meet him in Downing Street," said Callum.

"Hopefully I will get plenty of useful information to give a good account of myself when I talk about my trip."

The experience will be useful for him once he returns, as he will study International Development at Sussex University, providing he gets the required A Level grades.

And he would like it to be a taster for a longer spell overseas in the future.

He said: "Having the chance to live and work abroad either during my degree or afterwards to help people in some way would be ideal, but we'll have to see what happens."

The Fellowship project was devised by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which is funding it, and the British Council, which will manage it.

The Prime Minister said: "I want a Britain in which every young person has the opportunities and support to harness their talents.