World’s Best Student Cities named

As the world continues to deal with the aftermath of the Paris attacks, the French capital has again topped the QS Best Student Cities Rankings. It is followed by Melbourne, again second, and Tokyo in third.

London stands behind Sydney and ahead of Singapore, with the high cost of living in London being the primary reason it does not feature higher.

QS Best Student Cities 2016

Rank City
1 Paris
2 Melbourne
3 Tokyo
4 Sydney
5 London
6 Singapore
7 Montreal
8 Hong Kong
9 Berlin
10 Seoul

“I am glad to see Paris appearing as the top world student city for the fourth consecutive year. After the terrible attacks that this city has experienced, Paris is more determined than ever to defend its values of solidarity, freedom and creativity. There is no more solid shield that we can use to oppose barbarity, because knowledge relies on the principle of openness to others: sapere aude!” said Thierry Coulhon, President of Paris Sciences et Lettres.

Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, echoes such sentiment: “Paris is proud to be ranked as the best world student city. Our youth represents our greatest strength and incarnates our greatest hope. We carry an ambitious politic to make youth able to blossom, be successful, be able to choose and to build its future. We will continue to support students by offering them opportunities, in an open, dynamic and creative city.”

Paris benefits from low tuition fees, a favourable rank in the Mercer Cost of Living Index and the second-highest number of globally renowned universities of the cities considered: only London has more. This, together with the strong employer recognition for Parisian universities, explains Paris’s continued status at the top of the rankings.

The United States is the most represented nation, with eleven placed cities. Boston (=13th) and New York (20th) are in the top twenty. It is followed by the United Kingdom (eight cities) and Australia (seven). The expanded rankings shine the spotlight on a series of new cities, such as Oslo (60th) and Monterrey (74th ). QS considered 122 cities that are home to at least 250,000 inhabitants and with two or more universities featured in the QS World University Rankings.

The QS Best Student Cities rankings are designed to provide students and parents with a detailed comparison of the various merits of potential university cities. They are based on fourteen metrics divided into five equally-weighted categories.