Students in Scotland are more likely to drop out in the first year

The study by the Higher Education Statistics Agency found that one in 10 students dropped out in the first year.

It said the four UK higher education institutions with the highest drop-out rates in 2003-4 were all Scottish.

The proportion of Scottish students who attended state schools had also dropped below the rest of the UK, it added.

The Hesa report said that the number of Scottish university students who had attended state school or college dropped from 87.5% to 85.9%.

By contrast in Wales it increased from 91.2% to 91.5%.

The UK figure also fell, from 86.4% to 86.1%.

Bell College in Hamilton was the poorest in the UK when it came to retaining students, according to the report.

It lost 38.5% of new entrants in the first year.

At Abertay University in Dundee the figure was 21. 2%, Napier University in Edinburgh lost 21% and 20.9% of new students left Paisley University within 12 months.

Overall, the Scottish drop-out rate was 10.7%, a rise from 9.6% in 2002-3.

The UK-wide average was 7.8%, up from 7.3% the year before.