Kuala Lumpur has achieved its highest-ever ranking in the 2026 QS Best Student Cities Rankings, climbing to 12th globally and breaking into the top 20 for the first time. With an overall score of 90.3, KL is the second-highest Southeast Asian city, just behind Singapore (11th), and ranks fourth in Asia, surpassing major cities like Beijing, Taipei, and Hong Kong.

QS highlighted KL's continuous ascent since 2016 as a testament to its efforts to become a premier global study destination. The ranking considers six categories: desirability, affordability, student mix, employer activity, university rankings, and student voice.

Despite its overall improvement, KL's weakest performance was in Desirability (81st), though it did improve by eight spots. The city saw slight drops in Affordability and Student Voice. Meanwhile, Shah Alam, Selangor's capital, fell 21 spots to 144th due to declines across five of the six metrics.

Globally, Seoul is the new top student city, dethroning London (now 3rd), primarily due to London's decline in affordability. Tokyo secured the second spot.