NEWS that the University of Brighton could quit Hastings has been described as a "complete shock".

Bosses are reviewing the future of the university's campus in Havelock Road, because it cannot attract enough students.

Student satisfaction at the Hastings campus is also lower than at its other bases in Brighton and Eastbourne.

Councillor Peter Chowney, leader of Hastings Borough Council, admitted the situation was "very worrying" for the struggling seaside town.

He said there had been no opportunity for the community, groups or businesses to have any input into the internal review.

Cllr Chowney said: "When the review, and the possibility of closure, was shared with us last week it came as a complete shock.

"Until that moment, the university administration had been completely committed to the Hastings facility, and they are still completing recent refurbishment works to the Havelock Road building. A new film and media suite was recently opened, to considerable acclaim."

Hastings received more than £12 million in public funding to set up a university to help the town's economic regeneration, offer local people access to a university degree course, and to build links with local businesses and other groups, carrying out research and training to benefit the town.

The review was ordered by Vice-Chancellor Professor Debra Humphris after she took charge in December 2015.

Councillor Chowney admitted the number of students studying in the town – around 600 - has never been enough to give a true "campus experience", with adequate accommodation for first year students never provided.

He added: "The news has been met with universal dismay. The response has been expressed with one voice: the university in Hastings must remain.

"Hastings needs its university - it's at the heart of our town, and is a core part of our renaissance. It must be expanded and developed, not closed!"

The university said it was operating in an "increasingly challenging environment", with the economic, political and funding context "radically changed" since it opened.

A spokesman said: "Despite considerable investment we have struggled to recruit the numbers of students needed to make the original vision for the campus viable in the longer term.

"We have also been concerned that students are less satisfied with their overall experience at Hastings compared to our other campuses.

"Against this backdrop we are looking at a range of options for the future of higher education in Hastings."

A decision is expected in the next few months.