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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
July 18, 2025 | 12:00am
ased on the latest QS report, Manila, the country’s capital received an overall score of 63.9. It scored 85.3 for affordability, 68.4 for employer activity, 57 for desirability and 37.2 for student mix.
STAR / Walter Bollozos
MANILA, Philippines - Manila ranked 88th as the best city for students in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities of 2026.
Based on the latest QS report, Manila, the country’s capital received an overall score of 63.9. It scored 85.3 for affordability, 68.4 for employer activity, 57 for desirability and 37.2 for student mix.
The QS added that for the first time, Seoul has been named the best city for students.
Seoul got an overall score of 100, scoring 51.8 for affordability, 90.2 for desirability, 93.3 for employer activity, and 79.3 for student mix.
“Seoul improved its affordability score compared to 2025. It also marginally improved its desirability, which is measured by safety, pollution and the number of respondents to the QS International Student Survey that wanted to study in Seoul. While improving in these metrics, Seoul also maintained a higher number of institutions ranked in the QS,” it said.
It added that after six consecutive years in first place, London dropped to third place, while Tokyo maintains second position.
“There has been significant movement among the top 20 cities. Now, 10 of the top 20 cities are in Asia Pacific, highlighting the region’s increased influence on global higher education. While the top cities excel in many of our indicators, Affordability is a persistent challenge. Low Affordability may lead to international students looking outside the big four destinations or staying in their home country,” the QS report said.
It said that London’s declining affordability was a significant driver in it losing its top spot.
Aside from Seoul, Tokyo and London, other cities in the Top 10 include Munich, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin, Paris, Zunich and Vienna.
The report added that Edinburgh also suffered in this metric compared to the 2025 results.
It said that in contrast to many European and United States cities, Asia Pacific cities have improved their Affordability score, with Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul all improving their score by over 10.
“Eight of the 10 APAC (Asia-Pacific) cities in the top 20 have improved their student Mix score, which is measured by the proportion of the city’s population that are students. This indicator further emphasizes APAC’s increasing appeal for international students,” the report added.
The report said Amman is now the best city in the Middle East for students following a 19-place improvement driven by an increased number of ranked institutions. Cairo is Africa’s best city for students following improvements in Desirability.
Mumbai is India’s best city for students, and has moved into the top 100 for the first time.
Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai have also all increased their rank following improvements across the QS World University Rankings, the report added.
“In Europe, the picture is less positive. London has been dethroned as the best student city, and desirability scores are down in seven of Europe’s top 10 cities. All ranked United Kingdom cities have seen a reduction in affordability, and all except Nottingham and Leeds have dropped in the ranking,” it said.
