QS Best Student Cities 2027: Delhi Tops Global Affordability Ranking, Mumbai Leads India

London: QS Best Student Cities 2027 has identified Delhi as the world’s most affordable city for students, while Mumbai has emerged as India’s highest-ranked student destination, according to the latest ranking released by QS Quacquarelli Symonds.

The QS Best Student Cities 2027 ranking includes four Indian cities among 150 global student destinations.

Mumbai climbed seven places to 91st, Delhi rose five places to 99th, Chennai advanced five places to 123rd, and Bangalore slipped six places to joint 114th.

The ranking assesses cities on university strength, desirability, employer appeal, affordability, student diversity, and student feedback.

Global leaders in QS Best Student Cities 2027

Seoul retained the top position in QS Best Student Cities 2027 with a perfect score of 100, followed by Tokyo and London. Melbourne moved up to fourth place, while Munich and Sydney shared fifth place.

Delhi and Mumbai lead India’s performance

Within QS Best Student Cities 2027, Mumbai is now India’s highest-ranked city at 91st with an overall score of 61.8. Delhi follows at 99th with a score of 60.3.

Both cities performed strongly on Employer Activity, which measures graduate demand among recruiters. Delhi ranked 29th globally and Mumbai 34th.

Affordability was another major strength: Delhi ranked first out of 150 cities for affordability, with average international tuition fees of around US$2,700 per year, while Mumbai ranked 12th.

However, QS Best Student Cities 2027 also highlighted a significant weakness. Mumbai ranked 150th out of 150 for Student Mix, and Delhi ranked 146th, indicating low international student diversity despite their large higher education ecosystems.

Similar pattern across Indian cities

The same trend appeared across all Indian cities in QS Best Student Cities 2027. Chennai improved to 123rd, while Bangalore fell to joint 114th.

Bangalore also recorded the highest international tuition fees among the four Indian cities, averaging around US$5,400 per year.

Despite this, all four Indian cities ranked within the global top 30 for affordability. Conversely, all four were placed between 145th and 150th for Student Mix, the lowest band in the ranking.

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India’s international education challenge

According to QS Best Student Cities 2027, India remains one of the world’s largest exporters of students, with more than 1.3 million studying abroad, while hosting only around 50,000 international students.

Recruitment is concentrated in neighbouring countries, with Nepal accounting for roughly one-third of international enrolments.

The Study in India programme and the National Education Policy 2020 aim to address this gap by attracting students from South Asia, Africa, the Gulf, and Central Asia, and by enabling foreign universities to establish campuses in India.

India’s broader higher education momentum

The QS Best Student Cities 2027 findings align with recent QS university rankings. In the QS World University Rankings 2027, India became the world’s fifth most represented higher education system with 52 ranked universities.

The number of ranked Indian institutions has increased by 271% since 2017.

More than half of India’s ranked universities improved their positions, and IIT Delhi rose to 118th, matching the best ranking ever achieved by an Indian institution. India now has 11 universities among the world’s top 100 for research impact.

Future skills and AI readiness

QS also reported that India ranks 13th globally for AI-economy readiness in the QS World Future Skills Index 2027 and achieved a perfect score of 100 for Economic Capacity.

The country ranked fifth for Future of Work but only 18th for Skills Alignment and 73rd for human capital quality, indicating that graduate quality must improve alongside graduate quantity.

Jessica Turner, Chief Executive Officer of QS, said: “India’s cities tell the story of its national higher education ambition in miniature. They are among the most affordable places to study anywhere in the world, their universities are rising faster than almost any other system’s, and employers increasingly value the graduates they produce.

The defining challenge is reach: India sends far more students abroad than it receives, and its cities remain among the least internationally diverse in the ranking. Turning a formidable domestic and regional strength into genuine global appeal, through quality, openness, and the international partnerships now taking shape, is what will define the next stage of India’s rise as a study destination.”

India’s ranked cities in QS Best Student Cities 2027