Madrid

QS Best Student Cities ranking: 27th

Spain's capital and most populous city, Madrid has much to offer. It climbed five places up the chart this year, ranking it firmly in the top 30 of the QS Best Student Cities. It’s also one of Europe's major financial, administrative and cultural centers, as well as being a tourist magnet with legendary nightlife and gastronomic traditions.

Home to the famous “galacticos” of Real Madrid, the city also boasts some of the world's most important art galleries, such as the Prado, as well as a chic fashion scene. International students may also be interested to know that the city is famed for its outgoing and sociable lifestyle: lengthy siestas, leisurely evenings socializing at the city's innumerable tapas bars, and late, late nights out at the weekends.

Madrid scores well in most of the indicators used to compile the QS Best Student Cities, getting its strongest score for student view, up 10 spots to feature at an impressive 21st place. Students frequently cite the city’s nightlife, diversity, lifestyle and weather among its pros whilst answering our student survey.

The city also achieves a high score for desirability, a measure of the overall quality of living in the city, including factors such as safety and pollution. Madrid’s highest-ranked university is the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, at 192nd in the QS World University Rankings® 2020 and is also Spain’s third best institution.

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Internationally ranked universities in Madrid

 More about Madrid

To find out how each of the above categories is calculated, view the methodology.