Tomsk

QS Best Student Cities ranking: 73rd

One of the oldest cities in Siberia, Russia, and the administrative center of the Tomsk Oblast, Tomsk could be the ideal student city for snow-lovers. A small, calm university city with a large student population, Tomsk has a lively café and arts scene and is especially noted for the picturesque ‘gingerbread’ style decorations found on its traditional wooden architecture.

Tomsk has a large number of universities and scientific research institutes, making it one of Russia’s major centers for science and IT and earning it the nickname ‘Siberian Athens’.

Its institutions include Tomsk State University, the oldest university in Russian Asia (Siberia), which was founded in 1880 and ranks well within the top 300 universities in the world.

The city is also a major industrial center, home to six business incubators and some of the region’s leading companies in engineering, pharmacy and food. Tomsk is the only non-capital member of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21, a body demonstrating the interests of major Asian cities for common priorities such as urban planning, sustainability and crisis management. 

Tomsk features in the top five for affordability in the QS Best Student Cities 2019, with lower living costs than those found in larger Russian cities such as Moscow. 

A small number of English-taught programs are available in engineering and science subjects (you can search for these here).

Although its winters are long and extreme, this is a great place to study if you’re keen on skiing and other outdoor activities, and there are also a number of theaters and museums to check out in your spare time. 

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Internationally ranked universities in Tomsk

More about Tomsk

To find out how each of the above categories is calculated, view the methodology.