Well, we’re halfway through June, and finally the UK has been blessed with a smidge of sunshine. Is it too late to launch hot girl summer? The UK’s Russell Group unis get very different amounts of sunshine. You’re way more likely to get a great tan at some unis. Here’s a cheeky ranking of the sunniest Russell Group unis.
The least sunny Russell Group uni is the University of Glasgow. This isn’t really a shock. Scotland isn’t exactly known for it’s great weather. Glasgow only gets 1,233.96 hours of sunshine each year. I guess Glasgow girlies will have to top up their spray tans instead.
At the other end of the scale, the sunniest Russell Group unis in 2025 is officially the University of Southampton. Soto is a very vanilla university, so I’m pleased it has this one claim to fame. Now exams are done, Southampton students need to pick a beach and soak up the sun.
This information is based on the Met Office‘s data from the closest weather station to each Russell Group university. I didn’t just make it up.
So, here are all the Russell Group unis ranked by how sunny they are in 2025:
24. University of Glasgow – 1,233.96 hours of sunshine each year
23. University of Manchester – 1,265.48 hours of sunshine each year
22. Queen’s University Belfast – 1,277.04 hours of sunshine each year
21. University of Edinburgh – 1,449.07 hours of sunshine each year
The University of Edinburgh looks like this for most of the year
20. Durham University – 1,479.95 hours of sunshine each year
19. University of Sheffield – 1,485.15 hours of sunshine each year
18. University of Nottingham – 1,487.00 hours of sunshine each year
17. University of Birmingham – 1,501.33 hours of sunshine each year
16. University of Warwick – 1,507.22 hours of sunshine each year
15. University of Cambridge – 1,522.72 hours of sunshine each year
=13. University of Leeds and the University of York – 1,524.53 hours of sunshine each year
12. Queen Mary University of London – 1,526.41 hours of sunshine each year
11. Newcastle University – 1,551.09 hours of sunshine each year
=8. King’s College London (KCL), the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and University College London (UCL) – 1,559.38 hours of sunshine each year
7. University of Exeter – 1,561.55 hours of sunshine each year
Exmouth beach is the University of Exeter’s main redeeming quality
6. University of Liverpool – 1,572.53 hours of sunshine each year
5. Cardiff University – 1,572.91 hours of sunshine each year
4. University of Oxford – 1,615.48 hours of sunshine each year
3. University of Bristol – 1,658.27 hours of sunshine each year
2. Imperial College London – 1,693.18 hours of sunshine each year
1. University of Southampton – 1705.71 hours of sunshine each year
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