Student appeal sends Dublin climbing university city rankings

The rise is attributed to how the capital is viewed by international students and the willingness of global employers to hire graduates from its universities.

Montreal in Canada is rated number one in the QS Best Student Cities league table, knocking Paris off the top spot for the first time since the rankings began in 2012.

Cities were rated according to measures such as desirability, how its universities rank in global tables, student mix, employer activity, affordability and, for the first time, student views.

Dublin experienced slight falls in four of the performance indicators, but improvements elsewhere more than compensated for those dips.

The student view indicator is based on opinions of 18,000 students worldwide, who were surveyed and asked to name the city where they would most like to study, their experience of studying in a particular city and their intention to remain there post-graduation. Some 43pc of surveyed students from Dublin reported an intention to stay on after graduating.

Dublin emerged as one of the most diverse of the 125 cities ranked by QS, with a placing of 17th for student mix. It was 26th for rankings, 39th for desirability, which covers quality of life issues, including pollution, corruption and safety, and 46th for employer activity.