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Seoul is once again the best city in the world for students! It topped the QS Best Student Cities 2027 ranking, scoring 100 out of 100 points in the overall standings; Tokyo took silver, London — bronze.
QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter: «Seoul's repeated leadership demonstrates the long-term effectiveness of government policy in higher education. Topping the ranking once is already a major achievement. Doing so for the second consecutive year with a perfect score means that the success is based on sustainable, systemic change».
Features of the QS Best Student Cities 2027 Ranking
- Strong positions of South Korean cities: in addition to Seoul, the list includes Gwangju, Daejeon, Busan, and Daegu.
- Asia in general is capturing the ranking more and more. Japan continues to actively attract foreign students (the government plan — to attract 400 000 international students — was achieved noticeably ahead of schedule), China is represented by as many as 10 cities.
- Australia is ramping up: Melbourne and Sydney made it into the top 5 (the only country with two cities in the top!), also recording the highest student internationalization score.
- The United Kingdom — the leader in scale: as many as 16 British cities made it into the 2027 ranking. The main highlights — London (3rd place), Edinburgh (15th), Glasgow (35th).
- Canada is beginning to lose ground. The ranking, as in the previous year, features 4 Canadian cities (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa), but all of them placed lower than the year before.
- The USA is also losing popularity: of the 14 American cities that made the QS list, 10 dropped in their positions.
How the QS Best Student Cities Ranking Is Formed
What is taken into account when compiling the ranking?
- University quality,
- Graduate employability among employers,
- Affordability of education, standard of living,
- International attractiveness,
- Opinions and reviews of students themselves.
In 2027, the list included 150 cities: each candidate must have at least two universities from the QS World University Rankings list and at the same time a permanent population of at least 250 000 people (for this reason, for example, the legendary Oxford and Cambridge are not represented in the top).
