What Makes a Great Student City?

Cities with a large student community tend to be well set up to support and welcome students – in terms of academic resources, but also factors such as the availability of student accommodation, support services for new students, and of course lots of student-focused activities, sports and nightlife.

With this in mind, the Best Student Cities includes a category focusing on each city’s student community, including both its overall size and also how internationally diverse it is. The students we spoke to in London did speak about how well equipped the city is for students.

For example, Albertine Fox, 30, doing a PhD in French Film at Royal Holloway University, said the main reason behind her decision to study in London was the quality of the city’s academic resources and facilities. “I come here [UCL] a lot to use the library… and Senate House Library, all the different libraries around London… the British Library is very handy as well.”

All the students we spoke to agreed that affordability is an important factor when deciding where to study – and yet the relatively high costs of living in London had not deterred them from studying here. While all would’ve liked to be spending less, affordability had taken second place to considerations such as quality of education, facilities and employability after graduating.

Carme Ventayol, 23, studying for a Masters in Cultural Industries at Birkbeck, said: “It costs a lot of money here, compared to Spain where I did my undergraduate degree. But on the other hand, I expect more for my money.”

Some students said they’d deliberately chosen to study in a large city, after growing up in a quieter environment. Orkham Akbarob, 19, an undergraduate student of international management at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), said he chose to study in London before picking a specific university, because of its size, shopping and nightlife. “It’s truly important for me because I cannot study in a small city. I did my foundation [degree] in Bristol, and I couldn’t stay there. It was really boring.”

Carme agreed, saying: “I come from a small town in Majorca, and it’s very different. I was looking for something bigger and with more going on. There’s not much going on in Majorca.” Given the choice to go anywhere, she would prefer to study in Los Angeles, because of its “innovation and creativity” in her area of study, and its research strengths.

So, while the QS Best Student Cities cannot cover every single motivation for studying in a particular city, the students we spoke to all mentioned factors that are covered within, either directly or as part of a broader category. Paris topped the last edition – check back on 20 November 2013 to see which cities will make the top 50 this year!

What do you think makes a great student city? Share your opinion in the comments below.