Happiest international students are in Oslo!

 Last week the rector of the University of Oslo  Ole Petter Ottersen wrote in his blog about  Best Student Cities 2017 -ranking.   In this ranking university cities across the world are compared in several categories: quality of education and research, affordability, desirability and students’ experiences. Oslo was ranked high, 53^rd. Big cities like Montreal, London and Paris were  the top three in total ranking. Among the Nordic cities Copenhagen and Stockholm got the highest rankings (37. and 47.)  Finnish capital Helsinki was also well appreciated; it was 61^st in this world wide ranking. Oslo was  ranked particularly high in desirability and students experiences. This is also confirmed by another international ranking that was published recently: Oslo has the happiest international students! This accomplishment will be celebrated in coming September in the congress of European association of international education where Oslo University will receive an award.

Desirability of university cities was evaluated in regard to safety, social atmosphere and possibilities of various leisure time activities. In my experience, Oslo gives excellent possibilities to all kind of outdoor activities and sports but for those more interested in art and culture the possibilities are innumerable. In addition to art museums and galleries, art and culture can be admired in many parks of Oslo, especially in Ekeberg park and Vigeland park which both have a fine collection of statues and are free for the audience. The city itself is in my opinion a nice combination of old and modern architecture, spiced with incredible huge forests and surrounding mountain area which can easily be reached with public transportation. Oslo got also high ranking is safety, which may be much poorer in bigger metropoles.

The category ‘students’ experiences’ comprised eight topics: tolerance and inclusion, diversity, friendliness, transportation, affordability, night life, employment opportunities after graduation and art and culture. The students appreciated the good public transportation system highly. It is easy to get around by metro, by bus or by tram with reasonable costs; card for one month costs about 700 NOK (100 NOK=~9€). Negative feedback was given about high living costs. The rents are high and many students prefer to live outside the city where the level of rent may be more affordable. In my experience, if you buy regular food supplies – no gourmet- the prices are about the same as in Finland. However, dining in restaurants is expensive – even according to the locals.  The so called ‘Big mac –index’ tells that in Oslo you get the second most expensive hamburgers in the world. On the other hand, the fact that there are no tuition fees in public universities compensates the living costs to some extent and makes living in Oslo possible for international students. (In Oslo university there are about 28 000 students in 8 faculties and about 15 % of them are international students.)

In the category concerning the quality of education and research Oslo University was number 113 in the world. In top3 were three American universities, MIT, Stanford and Harvard - hardly a surprise to anyone!