Montreal has been crowned as the most desirable city in Canada for students.
The ranking also clocked in Montreal as the second-best in North America and 14th best in the entire world.
As part of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2023 study, three Canadian cities cracked the top 20. Montreal led the way ahead of Toronto (15th overall) and Vancouver (20th). In total, Ottawa and Quebec City also made the list’s 140 cities, at 55 and 106, respectively.
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The QS ranking focuses only on cities with a population of at least 250,000 and those with at least two cities in the QS World University Rankings. Current calculations suggest that 164 cities across the globe qualify for consideration.
“The QS Best Student Cities ranking showcases the best urban destinations for international students, based on a diverse range of indicators grouped into six key categories,” says the study.
The six key categories are as follows:
- University rankings
- Student mix
- Desirability
- Employer activity
- Affordability
- Student voice
These are each given equal weighting when calculating the overall order of the index and combined total score out of 100.
QS says it surveyed more than 98,000 prospective and former students for the “Desirability” and “Student Voice” index categories.
Montreal’s total score across all six categories is 88.0, ranking highest in “Student Mix” at 94.2. Its lowest marker was “Affordability” (38.4) offset by “Student View” (93.7)
For comparison, the top five desirable student cities in the world are as follows:
- London, 100
- Munich, 95.1
- Seoul, 95.1
- Zurich, 95
- Melbourne, 93.3
The full ranking and its methodology can be found here.