Montreal named world’s best student city

Montréal has been voted the world’s best city for student city, bringing an end to Paris’ four-year reign at the top.

Multicultural, bilingual, student-centred and inclusive, Canada’s “cultural capital” performs well in all six categories of the QS Best Student Cities index – including the new Student View category, which is based on a global survey of students and graduates.

Canada as a whole was well represented in the rankings, with Vancouver claiming the 10th spot and Toronto the 11th. Ottawa and Quebec City also placed in the top 100 cities worldwide, at positions 26 and 72, respectively

There’s also good news for UK cities this year. Amidst concerns about the impact of Brexit, London climbs two places to rank third, while Edinburgh is 18th and Manchester joint 23rd. This is partly thanks to the fall in the value of the pound, which means British cities have become more affordable options for international students.

German cities too are on the rise – Berlin climbs to sixth and Munich ninth – while Asia’s leading representative, Seoul, surges six positions to claim fourth place.

The highest ranked US city was Boston in 8th position, while Melbourne was the highest placed Australian city (5th)

Entry to this league table requires cities to have at least a population of 250,000 and to be home to at least two universities in the World University Rankings.

The rankings are based on a basket of measures – including the quality of universities, facilities for students, affordability, the ‘desirability’ of the city for students, access to employers, the international nature of a city, levels of tolerance, pollution and safety.

World’s best student cities 2017

  1. Montreal
  2. Paris
  3. London
  4. Seoul
  5. Melbourne
  6. Berlin
  7. Tokyo
  8. Boston
  9. Munich
  10. Vancouver

Article published 17th February 2017