STUDENTS in York are more likely to stick with their degree studies than those elsewhere in the country, according to new figures out today.

But the University of York was doing less well than expected in attracting students with parents in manual and unskilled jobs and today pledged to work hard to boost this aspect of its performance.

Performance tables for universities and colleges were published today by the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE).

For each set of figures, the HEFCE drew up benchmarks which showed the average percentage that would be expected if all institutions had students with the same qualifications as a particular college or university, and offered the same subjects.

York St John College had an eight per cent projected drop-out figure, compared with a benchmark of 19 per cent, and the University of York had a seven per cent projected drop-out, compared with a benchmark of eight per cent, meaning both were doing better than expected.

The percentage of state school pupils at York St John was 95 per cent, compared with a benchmark of 91 per cent, and at the university it was 80 per cent, compared with a benchmark of 76 per cent. Again, both were performing better than expected.

In the final category, York St John had 32 per cent of students with parents in skilled manual, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations, compared with a benchmark of 29 per cent, but the university only had 15 per cent with parents in these jobs, which was lower than the benchmark of 18 per cent.

Hilary Layton, spokeswoman for the university, said: "We have just appointed a new widening participation officer to attract more students from these groups.

"We are also involved in the local Green Apples project which works with local schools and we are involved with the national Excellence in Cities project and run summer schools for pupils from inner city schools. We have been doing that for the last three years.

"We're working hard to address that. Overall, though, it's good news and we are obviously performing well in other areas."

Finlay Coupar, executive dean of student affairs, at York St John College, said: "We are extremely pleased with these results and our continued success in exceeding our benchmarks. These figures provide significant evidence of the effectiveness of our widening participation and retention strategies. They also demonstrate the currency of our curriculum, the value of the learning experience offered and the strength of our support for students."

Updated: 14:37 Wednesday, December 19, 2001