Top 10 Student Cities According to Students in 2018

One of two German cities to rank among the top 10 as rated by students, capital city Berlin is up five places this year to eighth, notably achieving fourth place for its ‘staying after graduation’ factor, which reflects the city’s strength as a major economic center with a booming tech startup industry.

It’s also fast becoming known as one of the trendiest cities in Europe, with exciting music, dance and arts scenes, and it boasts the highest score for affordability of any of the cities on this list.

The Netherlands’ capital city Amsterdam made a huge leap in the student view indicator this year, up an impressive 40 places to now rank seventh among students. This has no doubt helped it improve its overall rank in the QS Best Student Cities (from 36^th to 27^th).

Frequently ranked as one of the most livable cities, Amsterdam is small in comparison to cities like London, but easy to get around and nonetheless packed with things to do, particularly its thriving nightlife.

Swedish capital Stockholm made the biggest climb in the student view indicator – up a remarkable 60 places this year to rank sixth for this category. It’s also climbed 14 spots overall in the QS Best Student Cities, to rank 33^rd. Stockholm is known for its openness, equality, and modern, tolerant society.

Unfortunately, student life in Stockholm doesn’t come cheap, with some of the highest living costs around (although students from the EU don’t need to pay tuition fees). However, it’s clearly worth the high price tag for many.

Austria’s capital and largest city Vienna is another big climber in the student view indicator, up 49 spots to now rank fifth as rated by students (and 11^th overall). One of the most historic European capitals and known for being ‘the City of Music’, Vienna was ranked number one by Mercer in their annual Quality of Living survey for eight consecutive years until 2016.

It also performs well in the student mix indicator, with a large and diverse student population, and is in the top 50 for affordability, with tuition fees of €1453.44 (~US$1,750) per year for non-EU students.

The second Czech city to rank among the top 10 best student cities according to students is its capital Prague, which is also ranked within the top 50 for affordability thanks to some of the lowest living costs in Europe, while tuition fees are in the mid-range.

Prague is known for its beautiful architecture, cheap beer, and reputation as a major cultural center, and students are certainly having a good time here, having rated it fifth for ‘student experience’.

As well as being the third-best city according to students, Melbourne also claims the highest rank in the Best Student Cities 2018 table for student mix, an impressive feat considering its large size. 4.9 percent of its population are students, almost a third of whom are international students.

Melbourne is ranked 10^th for ‘student experience’ and third for ‘staying after graduation’, suggesting that staying and working in Melbourne after graduation is an attractive prospect.

Not just an ideal study destination for those who are partial to beer and pretzels, the student lifestyle on offer in Munich may cost slightly more than other German cities but is clearly worth every penny as its ranked second by students this year, up 24 places.

As well as being a fun-loving tourist attraction, Munich has the strongest economy of any German city and the lowest unemployment rate, so it’s unsurprising to see it in fifth place for ‘staying after graduation’.

While the French-speaking Montréal may no longer be the number one student city overall in the QS Best Student Cities index, the 2018 results see it overtake fellow Canadian city Ottawa as the number one city according to students.

Montréal is ranked 10^th for ‘staying after graduation’ and is first for ‘student experience’.  When asked to describe what the best thing about Montréal was, one respondent in our survey said: “It's cheap, interesting, and there's a large focus on arts and culture,” while another said, “It’s cultural, young and lively. It has absolutely the BEST foods, a European feel, study cafés everywhere, and beautiful people from all over”.

Think your student city deserves to be in this list? Take our short survey, and help create next year’s edition of the QS Best Student Cities index.