Montreal is crowned the world's top student city
(By McGill Reporter Staff)
There鈥檚 already plenty to celebrate during Montreal鈥檚 375th anniversary year, and now there鈥檚 yet another reason: Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has named Montreal the world鈥檚 number-one student city. The global higher education analyst released its fifth annual QS Best Student Cities ranking on February 14, 2017.
Montreal jumped from last year鈥檚 seventh place to overtake reigning champ Paris, now the world鈥檚 second-place student city after four years in the top spot.
QS evaluated 125 cities to determine its Top 100 ranking. Each city was required to have a population of more than 250,000 and be home to at least two universities in the most recent annual QS World University Rankings. Three Montreal universities were in the 2016 rankings: McGill (), Universit茅 de Montr茅al (126) and Concordia University (466).
Montreal鈥檚 improvement in the QS Best Student Cities ranking reflects gains in two of QS鈥檚 five traditional composite indicators 鈥� Affordability and Employer Activity 鈥� plus a strong performance in the new Student View category. The other three categories are University Rankings, Student Mix and Desirability. The breakdown of Montreal鈥檚 QS report card is听.
The Employer Activity score reflects Montreal鈥檚 recent economic progress, which is outpacing that of Canada as a whole, driven by infrastructure investments and widespread gains across the service sector. QS鈥檚 metric takes into account a city鈥檚 unemployment rate, as well as how favourably international and domestic employers perceive graduates of a city鈥檚 universities. Montreal jumped 11 places in this category and now ranks 16th worldwide.
According to a 2016 study by the Chambre de commerce du Montr茅al m茅tropolitain, there are more than 155,252 full-time university students in the greater Montreal area. More than 30,000 of them come here from outside Canada. One-third of the city鈥檚 international students study at McGill.
The new QS Student View indicator is based on 18,000 international students鈥� thoughts on their adopted city鈥檚 social and cultural offerings, its attitudes toward tolerance and inclusion, and their own willingness to live there after graduation. Out of all 125 cities, Montreal placed fifth for this metric.
鈥淭his ranking is a reflection of how highly our students, and the global workplace, value Montreal鈥檚 universities,鈥� said Suzanne Fortier, Principal and Vice-Chancellor. 鈥淚t is also a validation of the city鈥檚 welcoming spirit and exciting creativity. Montreal is a place of coming-together: different languages and cultures, the arts and commerce, deep history and a visionary future. Our hometown is a special city, and students want to live and study here. It is particularly rewarding to get this kind of international recognition during our sesquicentennial year.鈥�
鈥淲hile I find this amazing news, I can鈥檛 really say I am surprised,鈥� said Ollivier Dyens, McGill Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning). 鈥淢ontreal is a city where 鈥業l fait bon vivre.鈥� Montrealers, like McGillians, are tolerant, gentle and creative and they welcome students and immigrants from all over the world with open arms. And we know from years of research that the most creative cities are also the most tolerant.鈥�
For many international students, their first taste of Canadian winter can be a shock 鈥� but the QS ranking suggests Montreal鈥檚 many charms handily offset its tough winters. A self-described 鈥渢ropical flower,鈥� Victor Frankel came to study in Montreal six years ago after living in Mexico City, Chicago, Santa Barbara and Panama. 鈥淚鈥檝e lived in some amazing cities,鈥� says the ecology and evolutionary biology PhD student, and secretary-general of McGill鈥檚 Post Graduate Students鈥� Society, 鈥渁nd Montreal is my favourite. It鈥檚 a city that offers everything, from art to culture to diversity to multiculturalism. Having so many universities here is a huge asset because there鈥檚 a lot of potential for intercollegiate collaboration and the universities attract people who are very cosmopolitan. They have a voice and good ideas, and that helps to change the dialogue about important issues in the city 鈥� and changes the dialogue happening across the country. Montreal is a great place to be if you really want to think about having an impact.鈥�
Montreal is not the only Canadian city to improve its performance in the 2017 QS Best Student Cities ranking. Vancouver and Toronto, which last year tied with Boston for 13th place, are now 10th and 11th, respectively. Ottawa is 26, up from 49. The only other Canadian city to make the Top 100 is Quebec, which is 72. The overall Canadian performance benefited from gains in the QS Affordability indicator, which measures a combination of tuition fees and cost-of-living in each of the 125 cities covered in QS鈥檚 research.
