QS Rankings: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Chennai among 130 best student cities globally

Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai have made it to the list of top 130 cities for international students, according to the recent QS rankings. The QS Best Student Cities Ranking, released few days ago, has placed Mumbai as the highest-ranked city in India.

Mumbai, which has a global ranking of 103, gets a high score in ‘affordability’ parameter but struggles in ‘student mix’ and ‘desirability’. It is followed by Bengaluru (114). India doubled its representation with two new entries this year — Chennai (125) and Delhi (129).

International students represent only a small fraction of the overall student body in India. India seeks to attract 500,000 international students, more than four times the current total, by the end of 2024.

The QS Best Student Cities Ranking provides students with independent data regarding a range of factors relevant to their study decisions — affordability, quality of life, the standard of university, and the views of previous students that have studied in that destination. London takes the top spot, extending its table-topping run to four years, followed by Seoul.

The London-based QS ranks cities with a population of at least 2,50,000 and with at least two universities placed in the QS World University Rankings. The ranking offers a powerful lens into the sentiments of both prospective and former students, with over 98,000 survey responses contributing to the desirability (prospective students) and student voice (former students) indexes.

Seoul topped the chart among the Asian cities, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Osaka.