QS Best Student Cities 2025 for International Students

In the midst of all this, renowned rankings organization, QS World University Rankings have published their QS Best Student Cities 2025. This is a list of the most popular cities for international students looking to study abroad. Do note that QS has a methodology in place for their ranks which has also been mentioned in the article.

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Best Student Cities 2025 for International Students

This is the recently published list of Best Student Cities for 2025 for international students by QS World University Rankings. 

Rank	Best Student Cities 2025	Country	Overall Score
1	London	United Kingdom	100
2	Tokyo	Japan	99.2
3	Seoul	South Korea	97.8
4	Munich	Germany	97.7
5	Melbourne	Australia	97.1
6	Sydney	Australia	95.4
7	Paris	France	94.6
8	Zurich	Switzerland	94.5
9	Berlin	Germany	94.4
10	Montreal	Canada	92.1
11	Toronto	Canada	91.9
12	Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe	Japan	90.6
13	Edinburgh	United Kingdom	90.5
14	Vienna	Austria	90.1
15	Singapore	Singapore	89.6
16	Boston	USA	89
17	Lausanne	Switzerland	87.8
18	New York	United States	87.4
19	Vancouver	Canada	87.1
=20	Amsterdam	Netherlands	86.6
=20	Stockholm	Sweden	86.6
22	Hong Kong SAR	Hong Kong SAR	86
23	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	85.4
24	Auckland	New Zealand	85
25	Brisbane	Australia	84.8
26	Taipei	Taiwan	84.6
27	Manchester	United Kingdom	84.4
28	Adelaide	Australia	84.1
=29	Canberra	Australia	83.8
=29	San Fransico	United States	83.8

QS Best Student Cities 2025 Ranking – methodology

Every ranking would be based on a certain set of parameters which would help decide the performance of one city over another.  Similarly, in this section, we are going to be talking about the ranking methodology followed for the recently published QS Best Student Cities 2025 Ranking by QS World University Rankings.

To start, candidates should note that only cities that have a population of over 250,000, and is home to at least two universities featured in the most recent QS World University Rankings 2025 are eligible for this ranking. Hence, only 164 cities have qualified for this QS Best Student City survey.

Now coming to the ranking methodology. For the QS Best Student Cities ranking a total of six (#6) parameters have been taken into consideration for the ranking process. Candidates should note that equal weightage has been assigned to each of these parameters and the performance of the city is derived against performance on each parameter. The six important parameters are

1. University rankings: The university ranking takes into account the number of universities that are featured in the recently published QS World University Rankings 2025. 
2. Student mix: Student mix would include, how many international students are enrolled in the city, what is the proportion of the city's population, and finally, how inclusive the city and the country it's located.
3. Desirability: How safe is the city, what are the pollution levels like in the city, and how many respondents to the student survey wanted to study in the city?
4. Employer activity: What is youth employment like in the city, what do employers think of the graduates produced by universities in the city?
5. Affordability: How much does tuition cost at the city's universities, and what is the cost of living for students in the city?
6. Student voice: What ratings did students give the city's friendliness, sustainability, diversity, and more, What proportion of students continue to live in the city after graduation?

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