These universities pulled off the biggest April Fool’s day pranks

Come April 1, we all expect our social feeds to be flooded with mind boggling news. These fun-filled articles are likely to either dupe you into believing something ridiculous or chuckle to yourself over their absurdity.

So, could you tell fact from fiction?

Here’s a roundup of some of biggest pranks pulled off by universities who got into the April Fool’s day spirit:

University of Melbourne

On Monday morning, students woke up to some surprise news when the university announced via Facebook that Mobile phone signals would be permanently shut down across all campuses.

Their statement read: “This far-reaching decision was made after extensive survey data showed students were concerned about modern-day distractions keeping them from completing their University work and making new friends.”

One student, who appeared to have believed the news, commented: “This is a ridiculous measure to take when many of us have family responsibilities and need to be available for emergencies. Very draconian way to deal with the issue.”

Another said, “I almost died a little but then I realised what date today is…”.

University of Nottingham

Free Poliakoffee anyone? Wait, what?

The university uploaded a video on Facebook featuring Martyn Poliakoff, a chemistry professor at the university. It starts off convincing enough – Poliakoff says that it’s the International Year of the Periodic Table (it’s actually a thing, folks) and to celebrate the occasion, he’s working with the university’s catering department to “make some really special coffee” with “all the right elements”. Called ‘Poliakoffee’, the university would be selling it across the university but would be giving students a taste of it – for free – on April 1.

The university later uploaded another video in which Poliakoff then says, “Well actually, I prefer green tea. Happy April Fool”.

Joke’s on you, coffee lovers.

Queen’s University Belfast

Do people look like their pets? Some would argue that the answer is a definite ‘yes’.

To test that theory, Queen’s announced that their multi-departmental team of psychologists and software developers have developed an app called ‘Petcentage’ which can identify the facial similarities between humans and their pet dogs and cats.

“Queen’s are asking for volunteers to take part in the second stage of the study to map how much we look like our cats and dogs,” it said on its website. Students seem unfazed by the news, with some commenting on the university’s Facebook page, “Awww I was very excited…then realised its April’s Fools” while another said “Nice try”.

Nice try, indeed.

Edge Hill University

What would you least expect to see swarming your university grounds? For Edge Hill University, the answer would be geese.

The university issued a warning to students on its Facebook page on Monday that: “Over the weekend we have seen an influx of Geese across campus. They have settled near the lakes by Catalyst and the Faculty of Education, so please take care when walking around these areas of campus. Check out our Facebook Stories for tips on keeping safe around the geese!”

Accompanying the caption was a badly photoshopped image of geese on the campus grounds.

While students weren’t in the least bit fooled, they did appreciate the joke, with one student commenting “Shocking photoshop effort that”.   

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