The best university cities of 2018

Where are the top student cities in the world? Analysis of THE data reveals where the world’s best colleges can be found

April 12 2018

Have you ever wondered which city contains the highest number of institutions appearing in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018? Well, you’re in luck because we’ve analysed our top 200 and top 500 universities to see which cities have the highest concentrations of elite universities.

When looking at the top 200 list, you will probably not be surprised to see London in joint first place, with six universities. London is renowned as a destination for British and international students looking to benefit from a high-quality university education. The close clustering of its institutions, and the University of London system, means that students attending these universities are able to utilise facilities across the city.

London is matched by Boston-Cambridge (the two are grouped because of proximity), home to some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, including Harvard University. Other cities that boast several top 200 universities are Paris, Hong Kong, Berlin, and New York.

Cities with the highest concentration of top 200 universities

Rank	Cities	Number of universities	Universities
=1	Boston-Cambridge	6	Boston University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts
=1	London	6	Imperial College London, King’s College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway, University of London, UCL
=2	Paris	5	École Polytechnique, Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris, Paris-Sorbonne University – Paris 4, Paris-Sud University, Pierre and Marie Curie University
=2	Hong Kong	5	Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Hong Kong
=3	Berlin	4	Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, Technical University of Berlin
=3	Los Angeles	4	California Institute of Technology, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California
=4	Stockholm	3	Karolinska Institute, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University
=4	New York	3	Columbia University, New York University, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
=5	Shanghai	2	Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
=5	Beijing	2	Peking University,Tsinghua University
=5	San Francisco Bay Area	2	Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley
=5	Seoul	2	Seoul National University, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)
=5	Chicago	2	Northwestern University, University of Chicago
=5	Singapore	2	Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore
=5	Montreal	2	McGill University, University of Montreal
=5	Sydney	2	University of New South Wales. University of Sydney
=5	Barcelona	2	Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University
=5	Atlanta	2	Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University
=5	Melbourne	2	Monash University, University of Melbourne

Something to keep in mind is that some cities are significantly larger than others, which could be one of the reasons why they have more top-ranking universities. This could explain why there are so many high-ranking universities in London and Paris, compared with other major global cities.

Bearing this in mind, when analysing the data, we also looked at cities that are geographically close such as Copenhagen, Malmo and Lund; Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp; and Amsterdam and Utrecht and found that many of these clusters also have high numbers of top-ranking universities, but to maintain consistency we omitted these from our final tables. The only one that still features is Boston-Cambridge as they are simply too close to each other to leave out.

Explore some of the best university cities in the world

10 things every foreign student in London should know
Student life in London: culture and cuisine
International perspective: a Vietnamese student in Paris
Falling in love with studying in Paris
Brits in America: New York, New York
Studying in Asia – Hong Kong or Singapore?

If we widen the pool to look at the number of top 500 universities in a city, London once again takes the top spot with an impressive 15 institutions. This is hardly surprising, considering that London has one of the highest concentrations of higher education institutions in the world, with nearly 40 universities in total.

Paris comes second, with 10 universities, and Boston-Cambridge, again, scores well with eight top 500 universities, while Seoul and Melbourne are joint fourth with seven each.

However, some slightly surprising cities also appear on the list, including Frankfurt, Moscow and Tokyo. If you’re looking for a university city off the beaten track, it may be worth checking out some of these cities before making your final decision.

Cities with the highest concentration of top 500 universities

Rank	City	Number of top 500 universities
1	London	15
2	Paris	10
3	Boston-Cambridge	8
4	Seoul, Melbourne	7
5	Hong Kong	6
6	Dublin, New York, Sydney	5
7	Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Chicago, Moscow, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Milan	4
8	Atlanta, Shanghai, Stockholm	3
9	San Francisco Bay Area, Singapore, Beijing, Montreal	2

Best universities in the top university cities

Best universities in London
Best universities in Paris
Best universities in South Korea
Best universities in Melbourne
Best universities in Hong Kong
Best universities in New York
Best universities in Los Angeles
Best universities in Singapore

If you want to see more of some of these top university cities, we will be sharing one a day on our Instagram page for the next week. If you want to share images of your university city and tell us why you think it is the best, use #BestUniCity2018 so that we can see and share them, too.

Read more: Best universities in the world

Reader's comments (2)

#1 Submitted by Olive Consulting on March 29, 2018 - 4:31am

I feel the report is biased as there is no mention about universities in New Zealand, which tops in high quality Education

#2 Submitted by Japanschwarz on April 19, 2018 - 4:36pm

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the previous comment that the report is probably biased. Concerning Germany, for instance, the ranking only mentions Berlin, and in the extended ranking, Frankfurt. The only German city with two Top 50 universities (not to mention the various research institutions situated there) is, however, Munich. Whereas Frankfurt only boasts 1 university-which is not even in the Top 100. So this ranking would misinform any foreign student planning to study in Germany.