Top 10 Best Student Cities in the UK

Ranked 51^st in this year’s Best Student Cities (up four places from last year), Birmingham is the UK’s second-largest city and is one of the UK’s most exciting cities, with excellent restaurants, history, entertainment, shopping and culture. Birmingham is famed for its industrial heritage and has more miles of canals than Venice. It also hosts the largest Christmas market in the UK every year and more than 50 festivals every year, including the Birmingham Comedy Festival.

The city is ranked 50^th for the rankings indicator in this year’s cities ranking, with the University of Birmingham consistently featured in the top 100 of the world rankings.

Nottingham is ranked 47^th in the Best Student Cities this year and is one of the most vibrant cities in the UK, affectionately referred to as the ‘Queen of the Midlands’ and known for its proud connection to the Robin Hood legend.

The city earns the third-highest score in the UK for student view (21^st), with students here rating it highly for its nightlife, ease of getting around (Nottingham has an award-winning public transport system), friendliness, diversity and more. One student, in our survey, described the city as a “great student town, with a thriving, sustainable, fun city lifestyle”.

The fifth highest-ranked of the UK’s 10 entrants in the Best Student Cities ranking this year, Coventry is ranked 44^th overall, just one place behind Glasgow. 6.8 percent of its population are students, and more than 40 percent of students come from outside the UK, making it a very diverse place to study. 

Coventry is also not short on culture, having won the title of UK City of Culture 2021 in December 2017, with excellent venues such as the Warwick Art Centre at the University of Warwick, the largest arts center in the UK after London’s Barbican.

Glasgow went down slightly in this year’s Best Student Cities ranking but is nonetheless included within the top 50 at 43^rd. Despite this drop, Glasgow is in the top 50 for the rankings, student view and student mix indicators, again with a fairly large and mixed student population.

The city is home to two universities which feature in the top 300 of the World University Rankings: the University of Glasgow, which ranks 65^th, and the University of Strathclyde at joint 277^th, with the former dating back to the 15^th century. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and is known for its rich history, varied contemporary culture and the friendliness of its locals.

Manchester is ranked 24^th in the Best Student Cities ranking in 2018, earning the UK’s fourth-best score for student view, with one student writing: “It's a big enough city with plenty to see and do, but small and inclusive enough that there is still a sense of community among everyone. It's very multicultural and welcomes anyone and everyone”.

Ranked joint 12^th for student mix, Manchester has one of the largest student populations in Europe, at around 100,000 as of September 2017, (40,000 of whom are studying at its highest-ranked institution, the University of Manchester). Music is a big part of its culture, with many famous bands formed here, such as Oasis, Joy Division, The Smiths and Buzzcocks.

Ranked 16^th overall in this year’s Best Student Cities ranking, Scottish capital Edinburgh is known for historical and cultural attractions and events like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which practically doubles the city’s population every August.

Edinburgh receives the highest rank of these 10 UK cities for student view, at 12^th, including one of the top scores for ‘student experience’, in which students rated the city on affordability, nightlife, employment opportunities, arts and culture and more. Responding in our survey, one student said: “Edinburgh is the best city in the world. It’s not just the beautiful architecture and setting, the people also make it great. Friendly and always accepting, I will never forget my time in Edinburgh.”

As well as being the top student city in the UK, London has climbed two places in this year’s Best Student Cities to rank first in the world for the first time. With no less than 17 ranked institutions in the QS World University Rankings® 2018, including two in the global top 10, London is unsurprisingly ranked as the best in the world in the rankings indicator, and also ranks second  for employer activity.

When asked in our student survey what the best thing about studying in London was, one respondent said: “The diversity of things to do and try - you can do something new every week, meet all kinds of people, and even though the living costs are high, there are quite a few things to do for free/cheap. The universities are great, and so are the career opportunities.”

You can read about the top universities in London here.

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Think there’s a UK city which deserves a place here? Rate it in our student survey, or let us know in the comments.