Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday.
With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019.
Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said.
Photo: CNA
In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities.
Hsinchu showed the biggest gain, rising 13 places, while Taoyuan was the only Taiwanese city to fall in the rankings.
Among the 39 Asian cities ranked, Taipei placed sixth, following Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
Globally, the top 10 student cities were Seoul, Tokyo, London, Munich, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin and Paris (tied for seventh), Zurich and Vienna.
There were 150 cities on the list.
According to QS’ official Web site, to be considered for the ranking, a city must have a population of more than 250,000 and be home to at least two universities listed in the most recent QS World University Rankings.
The cities were ranked based on indicators grouped into six key categories: university rankings, student mix, desirability, employer activity, affordability and student view, the Web site said.
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