Bank of Communications Limited, one of the largest banks in China, ranks Montreal, London and Hong Kong as the most valuable cities for education in a research paper published on Tuesday.

The 80-city list, called the overseas returnee index, not only looks at the quality of universities, but at other factors that may affect education costs, offering a comprehensive view of studying in these cities.

Five factors have been rated to score the candidates: education quality, which is the primary factor that accounts for 40 percent of the final score; financial returns; real estate returns; job opportunities for graduating overseas students and social experiences, which refers to whether the students have access to multinational cultures.

Montreal, with its relatively low education costs and welcoming attitude to immigrants, scored 72.4, putting it at the top of the list. US cities such as Boston, New York and Los Angles, though home to a host of world-class universities, rank in the middle due to high tuition fees and limited job opportunities. Many Asian cities are catching up thanks to their comparatively high quality-cost ratio, with Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Taipei featuring in the top 30. Beijing finished 27th.

“The research is part of our initiatives to better inform high-income customers in their education investment,” said Tao Wen, who is in charge of personal finance at Bank of Communications, “These families value not just education but job opportunities for the children and investment possibilities for the parents.”