The Students' Union is looking for students to try-out for the 2026/27 series of University Challenge (UC), a televised quiz competition in which teams of students take part representing their universities or colleges.

The Union is hosting a try-out session hosted by Union President Justine and VP Communities Ellie on Wednesday 26th November 2025 at 5.30pm in Cottrell, room 2A13 where you'll be asked a series of University Challenge sample questions.

If sucessful you will apply directly to University Challenge with interviews held in January, mostly likely to be held in Edinburgh with travel expenses covered. No prior sign up or team forming required to attend the try-out on the 26th November, just turn up. Individuals should know a lot, collectively, about a lot of things as UC covers a wide range of subjects and be able to work well within a team. 

Team criteria

For the entire duration of the filming process, players must be students at a UK university or university college. University Challenge define a ‘student’ as a person:

(a) who has enrolled with a UK university or university college; and (b) who is following a recognised course of study at that university or university college; and (c) whose final award in respect of that course of study has not yet been communicated by that university or university college. 

What does taking part involve? To make up a team, you need five players: four main team members, with one nominated as captain, and a reserve player, who would be able to step in to replace a main team member if they become unavailable at any point during the recording process.

The TV series is recorded at Dock10 Studios in MediaCityUK in Salford, over three ‘blocks’:

24th February 2026 to 27th February 2026 inclusive (Round One) 25th March 2026 to 27th March 2026 inclusive (Repechage and Round Two) 21st April 2026 to 23rd April 2026 inclusive (Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and Final) You’ll be able to claim back reasonable travel and food expenses incurred in the course of taking part in recordings, and we will arrange and pay for hotel accommodation for the recordings if you need it. 

What is University Challenge (UC) ?
UC is one of the oldest programmes still airing on UK television, and its rules and format have changed very little since it first aired in 1962! Each series is a single tournament, consisting of six rounds of head-to-head matches, with 28 teams taking part. Gameplay
revolves around ‘starters for ten’ - questions that all players compete to answer on the buzzer, with the aim of winning their team ten points and a round of bonus questions. You can watch past episodes of the programme here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006t6l0/university-challenge  

If you have any questions about the try-out session or taking part in UC, please email us at theunion@stir.ac.uk