London and Manchester are world’s most popular student cities

This is based on enquiries made via Student.com, a marketplace for student accommodation, throughout 2017 to more than 426 popular study destination cities worldwide.

London and Manchester are world’s most popular student cities

London is the most popular city for students to live in, followed by Sydney, Melbourne and Manchester.

This is based on enquiries made via Student.com, a marketplace for student accommodation, throughout 2017 to more than 426 popular study destination cities worldwide.

Liverpool came sixth, Nottingham seventh, Sheffield eighth and Birmingham 10th. In addition to the global rankings, the top cities by country were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the USA.

Luke Nolan, founder and chief executive of Student.com, said: “Reassuringly, our data indicates that there is still significant interest in the UK as a destination for international students - particularly from Asia and Europe. However, this is not an excuse to become complacent.

“With global competition for international students increasing year after year, the UK should do everything it can to support the internationalisation objectives of its universities and maintain its attractiveness as a study destination.”

TheHigher Education Statistics Agency found 19% of students studying in higher education in the UK are from abroad. At full-time postgraduate level, 53% of students are from outside the UK.

Students who booked accommodation with Student.com in 2017 travelled a combined total of over 95 million kilometres to get to their final destinations.

Nolan added: “Students are still willing to travel far and wide for their studies. Let’s keep it this way.

“It’s important that we all play a part in keeping students globally mobile and making international students feel welcome, whether they’re from a neighbouring country or the other side of the world.”