London has come second, beaten only by Paris, in a ranking of the world's 50 best cities for students.

Researchers considered cities with populations of more than 250,000 and home to two or more top universities.

They looked at affordability and quality of life as well as the number and reputation of universities.

Ben Sowter, lead researcher on QS Best Student Cities, said that though London had more world class universities than Paris it was more expensive.

London scored well on the quality and reputation of its universities, including Imperial College, University College London and King's College London.

The two cities did similarly well on quality of life, student mix and how well employers rated their universities as a source of good recruits.

But fees - calculated in this survey as ￡20,000 a year for international students from outside the European Union - meant that London lost out against Paris, where they are just ￡1,000 a year.

Mr Sowter said: "While high tuition fees make London a far more expensive proposition than Paris, London's array of world-class universities means it is worth the investment for many student."

The ranking is primarily aimed at international students who are considering where to study.

The research team considered nearly 500 cities, shortlisted just under 100 and are publishing the top 50.

They looked at indicators such as "quality of life", which included measures of crime and the cost of living.

They also looked at student mix which includes both the overall number of students and proportion from overseas.

Measures of affordability included the cost of a burger and the amount charged for tuition.

The top ten cities for students are:

1 Paris

2 London

3 Boston

4 Melbourne

5 Vienna

6 Sydney

7 Zurich

8= Berlin

8= Dublin

10 Montreal

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)