I am not really impressed, sorry.

judging by affordability and employment why London, Zurich and Paris some of the the very most expensive cities in the world  In fact, I believe Zurich is now the most expensive city.

Employment opportunities?  I am not buying it.

I think Austin, TX should be on the list, shoot Houston should be on the list.  Both of those cities are at least half as expensive and have way more jobs to offer. 

What intrigues me here is not results of the survey (which are subjective and easy to argue over) but the idea of a city university as compared with what we have a lot of in the US: either a self-contained mega-campus (Penn State is one example, which is in the mountains of Pennsylvania), or a smaller city where the college is about all there is to the town (Cornell or Dartmouth or Virginia Tech).   I went to a small-city college and loved it;  I have a daughter now who goes to college in Philadelphia and she loves that.  No one-size-fits-all answer, I guess.

American and European definitions of a University education and the process differ.   Europeans still tent to think in terms of classical education/ development as a person while Americans think “ job training. “  

  Penn state/State college is   beautiful and pleasant setting, So is Princeton. My own alma mate, Oklahoma State at Stillwater is a great campus. The A&M /land grants university were originally  located  in remote settings.  Some have had cities grow  up around  or near them,  but some such as State College. PA.  And Stillwater OK. Are still small towns.  College Station TX, home of TAMU has grown into  city of 100,000+/-   and Bryan TX which was originally 10 miles away from the  A&M  college, had grown to 70,000+  and Bryan/College station is one(twin city)  metro area.

Houston TX,100 miles from TAMU is the largest city in Texas and fourth largest in the U.S., and, In my opinion, sucks as a city.  San Antonio has a much better atmosphere.

Feb 16, 2012 -- 1:58PM, costrel wrote:

Of course, as Nietzsche's Zarathustra reminds us, those who are really concerned about a quest for truth will abandon the cities for the solitudes of the forests and the deserts. 

Hah!

Been tried, didn't work out as planned.   Las Vegas used to be desert- seen it recently?  And they even have a university.

Feb 16, 2012 -- 2:09PM, TemplarS wrote:

Feb 16, 2012 -- 1:58PM, costrel wrote:

Of course, as Nietzsche's Zarathustra reminds us, those who are really concerned about a quest for truth will abandon the cities for the solitudes of the forests and the deserts.

Hah!

Been tried, didn't work out as planned.   Las Vegas used to be desert- seen it recently?  And they even have a university.

Even the Late Antique monks turned the Egyptian desert into a city!

Perhaps Zarathustra would say the following about Las Vegas: "It is bad to live in cities: too many of the lustful live there" (Thus Spoke Zarathustra 1.13).