More than one in four UCAS students at Middlesex University are expected to drop out before completing their degrees.

Figures published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show a six per cent increase on previous years in drop out rates at the university which has campuses in Hendon, East Barnet and in Trent Park, Cockfosters. Out of the 3,948 degree students who enrolled through UCAS in 1998, 26 per cent are predicted to leave before June this year without any qualification or plans to resume studies elsewhere compared to a national average of 16 per cent.

There has been criticism that universities have been chasing funds by recruiting too many less academic students, who previously would have learned a trade.

The statistics also show a trend of students turning away from London's new universities and favouring more traditional institutions. Fewer UK students are enrolling at Middlesex University but there are increased admissions of overseas students who now make up almost 20 per cent of its students.

Middlesex University communications director, Marie Owens, said: "We are in a good catchment area with 50 per cent of our students coming from London but the perception of the capital is not good, it is expensive and there are big transport problems.

"We do not know why this drop out percentage is so high unless universities have been assessed on a general trend. We do not think it applies to us.

"We take many nurses, teachers and international students who do not apply through UCAS.

"Out of the 20 per cent UCAS classed as having dropped out in 1998/99, ten per cent resumed their study in the following year. Others of these were called drop outs just because they had changed their scheme of study or interrupted their modular course."