The 2015 best cities for students

News Release **************** The 2015 best cities for students Three Canadian cities in the top 15 London, 25 th November 2014 : Paris tops for the third consecutive year, the QS Best Student Cities , a ranking of the world’s top cities for st

News Release

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The 2015 best cities for students

Three Canadian cities in the top 15

London, 25^th November 2014: Paris tops for the third consecutive year, the QS Best Student Cities, a ranking of the world’s top cities for students, released today on TopUniversities.com.

Melbourne (2^nd) gains three places, while London drops to the third position.

Both Montreal (8^th) and Toronto (9^th) are in the top ten worldwide, with Montreal improving by one position, as Toronto improves by four. The third Canadian city to be featured is Vancouver, in 12^th place after having improved from 21^st place in 2014.

The ranking, compiled by the team behind the QS World University Rankings, is based on five key pillars, which are then broken down into individual criteria: university rankings; student mix; quality of living; employer activity and affordability.

To be included in the ranking, each city must have a population of over 250,000, and must be home to at least two ranked institutions in the QS World University Rankings. 116 cities in the world qualify on this basis, 50 have been ranked.

This year, the number of criteria has increased from 14 to 18, adding in metrics on safety and pollution as well as the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index and the Social Progress Index.

Twenty-nine countries are represented with the most cities in the US (8), followed by Australia (6), the UK (4) and by Canada and Japan with three apiece.
Europe boasts 20 cities, North America 12, Asia 9, Oceania 7 and South America 2.

QS Best Student Cities 2015 - Top 10

2015	2014	CITY	OVERALL SCORE
1	1	PARIS	412
2	5	MELBOURNE	397
3	2	LONDON	392
4	4	SYDNEY	388
5	7	HONG KONG	387
6	8	BOSTON	386
7	17	TOKYO	385
8	9	MONTREAL	380
9	13	TORONTO	375
10	14	SEOUL	372

Ben Sowter, head of research at QS says: “QS Best Student Cities provides students with a complementary tool to the university-focused rankings. After all, a university experience is intrinsically influenced by the location, especially for international students.”

RANK 2015	RANK 2014	CITY	RANKINGS score	STUDENT MIX score	DESIRABILITY score	EMPLOYER ACTIVITY score	AFFORDABILITY score	OVERALL SCORE
8	9	Montreal	63	96	83	78	60	380
9	13	Toronto	61	90	100	73	51	375
12	21	Vancouver	51	90	91	79	53	364

Students globally are sharing opinions and experiences about their #QSBestCities

“Montreal offers a melting pot of languages, cultures, and ideas, it's impossible not to be inspired here. For me, a great student city is one where you learn more outside of the classroom than in it, and in this regard, Montreal has proved to be a perfect student city. '', echoes Michael M. from the UK.

Amanda Smith from the USA says: “London is an incredible place to be a student as it gives you access to amazing experiences and sources of knowledge. Furthermore it’s unique in its diversity and heritage.”

“Studying Tokyo is enriching my life culturally and academically: it’s such a creative city!” says Ming Li from China.