Are These the Top 10 Cities for Studying Abroad?

Written by
When you're thinking about studying abroad - for a month, a year or more - there are...
a lot of things to consider: your personal interest in living in a particular region, the cost of living, the available programs, safety etc. But for many, recommendations from other students who have travelled and studied abroad can be a very useful guide for choosing a destination. So what cities are students recommending?

149-why-study-abroad

StudentAdvisor.com and StudyAbroad101.com have put together a guide that features the Top 10 cities for studying abroad, according to student reviews. Flipping through the guide, it looks like the ranks break down this way:

  1. London, England
  2. Paris, France
  3. Barcelona, Spain
  4. Sydney, Australia
  5. Florence, Italy
  6. Beijing, China
  7. Buenos Aires, Argentina
  8. Prague, Czech Republic
  9. Copenhagen, Denmark
  10. Cape Town, South Africa

But, is it just me, or do the student rankings on page 4 paint a different picture? Based on the overall rankings and those for social/culture, safety, cost of living and food, I think Beijing and Cape Town ought to be much higher in the list - higher than London, even.

London is still the most popular study abroad destination for Canadian and American students according to recent statistics, but numbers from the Open Doors Report on International Education, an annual report on study abroad trends published by the U.S.-based Insitute of International Education, actually suggests that students are starting to gravitate towards China.

What do you think? How do you think the list should break down? Let us know!

Zalina Alvi

Zalina grew up in Toronto and began her career in journalism at the York University campus newspaper. Before joining Verge in 2010, she worked for a documentary festival, a non-profit organization and various magazines and newspapers. Zalina has had some eclectic travel experiences, including reporting for a newspaper on the island of Molokai in Hawaii.