QS Publishes Ranking of Best Student Cities in the World

The list highlights 120 cities, four of which are Russian.

Britain’s Quacquarelli Symonds assessed cities in terms of their appeal to students who plan to get higher education abroad. Moscow, placed 34th, topped the Russian league as last year. It was ahead of Prague, Stockholm, Brussels, Helsinki and other cities. The Russian capital is followed by St. Petersburg, Tomsk and Novosibirsk, which have improved their positions compared to 2018. The ranking methodology relied on how many higher education institutions included in the top 500 QS World University Rankings are located in a given city. Moscow has eight such universities, including Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Higher School of Economics, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and National University of Science and Technology MISIS. Other Russian education centres included in the list also have QS-ranked prestigious universities such as St. Petersburg Polytechnic University of Peter the Great in St Petersburg, Tomsk State University and Tomsk Polytechnic University in Tomsk and Novosibirsk State University in Novosibirsk.

Among other research criteria are student mix, affordability, cost of living, employer activity as well as students view contributed by more than 85,000 respondents worldwide who shared their experience in living and studying in a particular city.