The number of students dropping out of universities in Sussex has fallen, according to figures released today.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England published a league table of 161 universities and higher education institutions across the UK based on the projected drop-out rate.

The University of Sussex comes 77th in the table, the University of Brighton 123rd.

The funding council has used projected figures to show it estimates 14 per cent of students at Sussex will fail to complete their course and 19 per cent of students at Brighton.

A spokesman for the University of Sussex said the figures were an improvement on last year when a projected figure of 18 per cent was published. A total of 15 per cent of students did not complete their courses.

He said: "We do regard this year's figures as a significant improvement.

"It is very pleasing to see a number of improvements we have made in the student's academic and welfare support are resulting in a reduction in the number of students that do not complete their course.

"The university has an ambitious target of halving the number of students who do not finish their course. We are very pleased with the progress we have made."

A spokeswoman for the University of Brighton said: "The university has fewer students not completing their courses than was predicted by HEFCE.

"This is an even better result considering Brighton has a lot of mature students who have their own particular pressures outside of their studies."