Beijing vs Shanghai for University

Both are established university cities. On ranking evidence: Beijing has 3 ranked universities in our data and Shanghai has 2. The highest-ranked institution across the two cities is Tsinghua University (consensus #13, Beijing). A "best student city" also depends on cost of living, safety, transport, job opportunities and lifestyle — factors rankings don't capture. QS publishes a separate Best Student Cities index that weighs these directly.

In Beijing: Tsinghua University (#13), Peking University (#18), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (#322). In Shanghai: Shanghai Jiao Tong University (#30), Fudan University (#37). See the full lists on our city ranking pages.

Beijing has 2 universities in EduRank's global consensus top 200, and Shanghai has 2. The consensus averages percentile performance across QS, THE, ARWU and U.S. News.