Bengaluru best student city in India, London tops global list: QS rankings

The other top Indian cities include Mumbai (85th rank), Delhi (113) and Chennai (115), respectively

Debuting at 81st position globally, Bengaluru has been ranked India’s best city for students in the global ranking agency QS’ (Quacquarelli Symonds) latest Best Student Cities Ranking 2019. However, in terms of affordability, Bengaluru is ranked seventh globally. 

The other top Indian cities include Mumbai (85), Delhi (113), and Chennai (115). Among these, while Mumbai gained ground, moving 14 places up on a year-on-year basis, Delhi dropped by six places in this year’s edition. Chennai ranked at 115, an improvement of two places from last year.

In the sixth edition of the QS Best Student Cities Ranking compiled by QS, cities were ranked according to the number and performance of their universities, the extent to which employers are actively hiring there, the city’s affordability, the city’s desirability and quality of life, and the diversity of a city’s student body.

Bengaluru’s strong debut, however, came on the back of its affordability as well as presence of globally ranked institutes like the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore.

“Our ranking looks at cities that are attractive to students and in particular, to the international ones. As India’s main priority is to meet its domestic, rapid growth access to higher education, some of our criteria penalise the Indian megalopolis featured. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see Bengaluru’s debut at the top of the national list and to see Mumbai growing in popularity among students. Both Delhi and Chennai perform very well on the affordability criterion, an aspect that it is essential to sustain the internal demand for university education,” said Ben Sowter, research director at QS.

Globally, London emerged the world’s best student city for the second consecutive year, followed by Tokyo and Melbourne.

According to the QS, London remains the world’s leading student city due to the high number of top universities present in the city, its high levels of employer activity and student diversity, and the regard in which it is held by the global student body. London’s top rank came despite its low affordability score.