S’pore 3rd best city for uni students

Singapore has jumped nine places to become the world’s third-best city and remained the best in Asia for university students, according to an annual ranking exercise by a London-based consultancy.

The findings were unveiled on Wednesday by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), which is best known for its global rankings of top universities.

Singapore was ahead of cities in the region such as Sydney and Hong Kong but lost out to Paris and London, which took first and second place respectively.

This is the second year that the exercise was conducted. In the inaugural exercise last year, Singapore was placed 12th.

Cities are ranked across five equally weighted categories. They are affordability, quality of living, employability, mix of local and international students, and the cities’ standings in the QS global university rankings.

Singapore scored 411 points out of a possible 500. It did particularly well in the areas of employability and quality of living. Its lowest score was in the affordability category.

QS head of research Ben Sowter said Singapore’s high score in employability means that its university graduates have a strong reputation among employers.

As for its high score in quality of living, he added that this category gives Singapore “a unique edge as students are increasingly looking for a comfortable and safe environment combined with good job prospects upon graduation”.