Indian is regarded among the least desirable education hubs for international students. As per a new report released by London-based educational consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) only four cities have made it to the list of “Best Student City Ranking 2019.” Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, and New Delhi secured spots in the international ranking list, released by QS on July 31.

Bengaluru secured 81st position, followed by Mumbai (85th position) New Delhi (113th position) and Chennai (115th position).
While Bengaluru was a debutant this year, Mumbai jumped 14 spots, while Chennai two places as compared to the last year’s ranking. New Delhi also slipped six spots, this year.

QS ranked cities on six parameters or factors including the number of top-ranked varsities in the cities, the proportion of student population, quality of life, available job prospects, cost of living and feedback from students.  Indian cities performed poorly on student experience indicators. Bengaluru was ranked 67th spot in this indicator, followed by Mumbai (77th), Chennai (114th) and New Delhi (116th). The high cost of living in metropolitan cities and fewer employment prospects after graduation were also some of the major concerns of the student populace.

Bengaluru which is home to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IIM Bengaluru (IIMB), was the highest-ranked debutante, this year. It was ranked seventh in the most affordable city category due to the low cost of living and low tuition fees. Moreover, a meal in the city costs as low as Rs150 ($2.17), said the QS citing figures from Numbeo, a Serbia-based online platform.

“It’s encouraging to see Bengaluru’s debut at the top of the national list and to see Mumbai growing in popularity among students. Both Delhi and Chennai have performed very well on the affordability criterion—an aspect that’s essential to sustain the internal demand for university education,” said Ben Sowter, research director at QS.

The Global Education Hubs list released by QS was topped by London, followed by Tokyo (second), Melbourne (third), Munich (fourth) and Berlin (fifth). Others in the list included Montreal, Paris, Zurich and Sydney. The survey also highlighted that 81 percent of the surveyed students by the QS chose study destination based on the safety and security measures taken by the prospective country. Almost 61 percent students decided study destination based on the cost of living, while another 61 percent on the number of universities with good repute in the prospective city.

The report comes at a time when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to make India a popular global education destination. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also proposed the “Study in India” programme in the union budget presented last month.

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