Manila ranks 88th in world's best cities for students for 2026
Manila ranked 88th on the list of the world's best cities for students in 2026.
The ranking, released by higher education analyst Quacquerelli Symonds (QS), measures how student-friendly a city is, taking into consideration student views, reputation of academic institutions, affordability, and employer activity.
The Philippine capital earned an overall score of 63.9, garnering a high 85.3 for affordability, which pertains to tuition costs at universities and the cost of living for students.
Manila also earned a 68.4 in employer activity, or what employers think of graduates produced by universities in the city; a 57 on student view, or the friendliness and sustainability of the city; a 37.2 in desirability; and 31.2 in student mix, or the student proportion of the city's population.
In terms of university rankings, the Philippines scored a 35.2, as it has six universities in the 2026 list, namely the University of the Philippines (362nd), Ateneo de Manila University (511st), De La Salle University (654th), University of Santo Tomas (851st to 900th), Adamson University (1,001st to 1,200th), and Mapúa University (1,401st).
South Korea's Seoul emerged as the best city for students, dethroning London, which has been no. 1 in six consecutive editions of the index. Tokyo followed second while London was in third. Munich and Melbourne were in the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
QS also noted that 10 of the top 20 cities in the ranking are in Asia Pacific, with other cities like Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong (SAR), and Kyoto.
For the index, QS picked cities with a population of over 250,000, at least two universities in the recent QS World University Rankings, and in a location marked as insignificant to medium in the International SOS index. Meanwhile, the indicators were based on other indices like Numbeo's Quality of Life index, Traffic index, Economist Price index, and more.