A ranking of 11 university Youtube channels from cringey to cringiest

The only thing that redeems Manchester’s is its relentless inclusion of Brian Cox


The humble university Youtube channel is the gift that keeps on giving. What’s meant to be a series of engaging videos that convince you to spend £9k-a-year at a university, in reality produces some of the most toe-curling videos you can imagine.

There seems to be a never-ending amount of drone footage mixed with time lapses of students “hanging out” on campus. Pair that with upbeat electronic music and a narrator telling you you’re going to change the world. Could anything be further from the truth?

Here are the 11 uni Youtube channels ranked from cringey to cringiest.

11. Leeds Uni

Get ready for unreal amounts of cringe from Intan and Conall as they “skate and scoot” across Leeds campus showing you all the important uni buildings.

Some highlights to watch out for include Intan doing her best X Factor audition attempt with a beautiful rendition of Thinking out Loud.

Skip to 4:22 to see some gnarly skateboarding from Conall.

These two could seriously give Ant and Dec a run for their money

10. Manchester Uni

Here comes the first of many videos that claim you are going to “change the world” at university.

What starts with some uptempo piano music, transitions into way over the top battle music as you’re told meaningless phrases about how Manchester “enables, empowers and inspires.”

Manchester would rank a lot lower if they didn’t also completely fill their Youtube channel full of Professor Brian Cox videos. You just can’t hate Brian.

9. Lancaster Uni

Harvey seems like a genuinely nice bloke and having resisted the opportunity to use any drone shots and time lapses of the city, Lancaster’s Youtube channel is genuinely ok.

The problem is that’s exactly the same for the university. It’s just ok. This is their flagship video and the most exciting thing that happens is four people get a Costa.

8. Liverpool Uni

Oh yeah. Here we go. Now they start to get really wanky. My original is perhaps the least original uni promo video I’ve ever seen.

In just under two minutes, students read out pre-prepared statements as they try to answer a question no one has ever wanted to know the answer to: “What does original mean”?

It’s the sort of question your Drama teacher would give you as your stimulus for your GCSE performance and the acting in this is just as bad.

7. Southampton Uni

Absolute BTEC Intan and Conal. Set to the backdrop of a fake red brick wall, Tom and Emily have all the chemistry of a Love Island couple who pair up on the first day.

I suppose if you are considering going to So’ton, nightlife isn’t your biggest priority, but still, the most excited Emily becomes in the whole video is talking about New Quay’s “big cinema”. Who cares??

6. Newcastle

“Together we build the new, driving world leading research at the forefront of great change”, the narrator tells us.

Calm down. You got an A and two B’s at A Level, you aren’t exactly going to change the world. Who really wants to live in a new world “built” by Newcastle Uni anyway.

5. Warwick Uni

“Everybody was really friendly,” the video claims.

This one probably goes down really well on Mumsnet as every student recites the cliché line about how welcoming and friendly everybody is.

4. Oxford Uni

Oxford’s position in the ranking might be a little bit harsh because there’s an excellent 2013 “Night at the Museum” style Christmas video where all the statues come to life and you get a brief appearance from a statue that looks exactly like Caecilius (lovely Year 7 Latin throwback).

However, being one of the world’s best universities, the bar has to be a bit higher for Oxford and their flagship video on their channel is all over the shop.

Someone says, “it’s like an extra layer of vision”, then there’s a laugh and three seconds of whistling.

The weirdest 30-second video you’ve ever seen, ends with a random girl saying “yay” and then it cuts to one second of a man playing an organ. I’m lost.

3. Bristol Uni

Bristol are pretty terrified of any of their students talking about them so you have to go back into the archives to find the gold.

So let’s go back to 2011, with the quality of a £30 camcorder, watch successive privately-educated home county students dressed like extras in Skins tell you about how much they’ve “grown” at university.

2. Exeter Uni

A culmination of everything you don’t want in a university video. Think of the cringiest promo music you could imagine as you spend the next 113 seconds watching non-stop drone shots of boring building after boring building.

Honestly, I’d take rugby boy in gilet waving about his signet ring telling me how wonderful “Exetah” is over this. Definitely a more realistic representation as well.

1. Durham Uni

I mean this is so bad, I almost love it. The whole production with its transitions is very 13-year-old Youtube channel like. The presenting is a cross between Alan Partridge and someone auditioning to present Newsround.

It’s packed full of classic lines like “you can just roll out of bed to your lectures” and “when I first arrived, my roommate and I seemed so different”. Like a documentary for an Oxbridge rejects home, you will not regret the four minutes it takes to watch this video.

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