Every year the QS World University Rankings are released, comparing universities based on a range of indicators. One of these indicators is how the university ranks for internationalisation, which is the proportion of international students and faculty members. Here are the top 50 universities for international students, according to the QS rankings.
1. London Business School, United Kingdom
2. American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
3. American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
4. Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain
5. King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, Saudi Arabia
6. Cranfield University, United Kingdom
7. Abu Dhabi University, United Arab Emirates
8. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom
9. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
10. University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
The University of Sharjah, one of four United Arab Emirates universities in the top 10.
Interestingly, the top 10 universities for international students are located exclusively in the UK or Middle Eastern countries. Every institute in the top 10 gets a 100% score in the QS ranking, meaning that the vast majority of their students and faculty staff are international.
11. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
12. SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom
13. Imperial College London, United Kingdom
14. Illinois Institute of Technology, United States
15. City University London, United Kingdom
16. Maastricht University, Netherlands
17. Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
18. University College London (UCL), United Kingdom
19. University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
20. HEC Paris School of Management, France
21. Qatar University, Qatar
The distinctive architecture of Qatar University.
22. ESCP Europe, France
23. University of Essex, United Kingdom
24. Middlesex University, United Kingdom
25. Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
26. Carnegie Mellon University, United States
27. University of Geneva, Switzerland
28. Coventry University, United Kingdom
29. Brunel University London, United Kingdom
30. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
31. Universität Innsbruck, Austria
32. The University of Adelaide, Australia
The University of Adelaide’s iconic Mitchell Building, former home of the Adelaide Law School.
33. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
34. Rockefeller University, United States
35. Kingston University, United Kingdom
36. King’s College London, United Kingdom
37. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom
38. University of Warwick, United Kingdom
39. Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom
40. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland
41. The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Old College, part of the University of Edinburgh.
42. The University of Melbourne, Australia
43. Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom
44. University of Surrey, United Kingdom
45. London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
46. Sciences Po, France
47. University of Leicester, United Kingdom
48. The University of Manchester, United Kingdom
49. ESSEC Business School, France
50. University of Sussex, United Kingdom
The best 50 universities for international students are predominately located in the UK, with 27 of the top-ranked institutions found there. Out of these 27, more than half are based in the capital city, London, meaning this is the number one place in the world for international students. The rest of the list includes nine centres across western Europe, three in the US, as well as 11 from Australia, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Many of the universities on the list are specialist centres teaching subjects in fields like science, technology, business and medicine. These universities attract students from around the world that wish to study these subjects at top centres.
Still not sure where to go to university? You could try one of these:
There certainly are lots of factors to consider…
But once you get there, make sure you make the most of studying abroad: