Cairo remains Africa’s leading student city in the QS Best Student Cities rankings, as Amman leads the Arab region and Gulf cities gain ground through investment in universities, research and internationalisation.
Published by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, the Best Student Cities ranking has assessed higher-education destinations since 2012, looking beyond university prestige to measure the broader appeal of cities as places to study, live and start a career.
The 2027 edition is headed by Seoul, followed by Tokyo and London. Melbourne ranks fourth, while Munich and Sydney share fifth place. QS highlights the Middle East as an improving region, with particularly strong gains by Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
How QS measures student cities
QS assesses cities across six areas: University Rankings, Student Mix, Desirability, Employer Activity, Affordability and Student View. The framework combines university performance with international diversity, employment prospects, tuition and living costs, quality of life and students’ assessment of their experience.
The competition has economic consequences: international students generate education revenues, expand skilled-labour pools and can strengthen the research ecosystems governments increasingly view as important to economic diversification.
Amman leads, but Gulf challengers are gaining
Amman, ranked 69th globally, leads the Arab region, combining an established university system with comparatively accessible costs. Its longer-term competitiveness will depend on strengthening research capacity, international visibility and graduate employment opportunities.
Abu Dhabi follows at 72nd, up eight places in a year and 19 over two years. Safety, internationalisation and substantial investment in universities and research have strengthened its proposition. Sustaining that rise will depend on translating investment into greater academic scale, research influence and employer recognition.
Cairo remains Africa’s leading student city. Its advantages are fundamentally different: Egypt already possesses scale, a large university population, established institutions and comparatively affordable tuition and living costs.
For Cairo, further gains are likely to depend more on quality than scale — improving research performance, attracting more international students, strengthening university-employer links and enhancing the wider student experience.
This highlights two increasingly distinct models of Arab higher education: Cairo and Amman draw on established systems, scale and affordability, while Gulf competitors are accelerating through capital-intensive investment in research, internationalisation and infrastructure.
Riyadh accelerates as Gulf cluster strengthens
Riyadh ranks 76th, climbing eight places this year and 21 positions over two years, making it one of the region’s fastest-rising student destinations. Its advance coincides with substantial Saudi investment in higher education, research and infrastructure as the kingdom seeks to diversify its economy.
The trend extends beyond the city ranking. In the QS World University Rankings 2027, 12 Saudi institutions and nine UAE institutions moved higher, while five universities in each country advanced by at least 20 positions — broader evidence of improving higher-education competitiveness.
For Riyadh, sustaining the rise is likely to depend partly on attracting a more international student population and converting the capital’s expanding economy into stronger graduate opportunities.
Behind it is a tightly grouped Gulf cluster. Dubai ranks 79th, Sharjah 80th and Doha joint 81st, while Al Ain is 109th and Jeddah 122nd.
Dubai benefits from international visibility and its network of foreign university campuses, while Sharjah offers a more concentrated academic environment. Doha has developed an international education ecosystem around domestic universities and Education City. Al Ain and Jeddah possess significant higher-education assets but remain less prominent as international student destinations.
A wider contest for human capital
The ranking points to a broader shift in the economics of higher education. Gulf governments increasingly view universities not simply as education providers but as instruments for attracting talent, expanding research capacity and supporting economic diversification.
For Egypt, Cairo’s combination of scale, relatively low costs and established universities could give the country scope to expand higher education as an export industry serving African, Arab and other international students. But affordability alone is unlikely to preserve that advantage as Gulf competitors improve research capacity, internationalisation and the student experience.
The QS rankings therefore capture more than movement in an annual league table. Competition between Arab student cities increasingly forms part of a wider contest for talent, research capacity and the skilled workforce needed for economic diversification.
Related news:
Muscat International airport is one of the most significant airports in the Gulf region
Nearly Free Graduate Education in Egypt: But for Whom?
Read also:
Health 2035: Can Egypt Become the Middle East’s Next Healthcare and Food Production Hub?
Egypt’s Liquidity Boom Tests Financial Infrastructure Capacity
