Ministers have welcomed a small rise in the number of working class students attending university.

The latest data revealed that 86 per cent of students came from the state school sector - an increase of just 0.3 per cent.

Just over a quarter of students came from the three lowest social classes - where their parents worked in skilled manual, semi-skilled or unskilled jobs - an increase of just 0.4 per cent.

Oxbridge continues to admit the lowest proportion of state school pupils - at 55 per cent - compared to the Bolton Institute where no students were educated in the private school sector.

The overall UK drop-out rate also fell, to 15 per cent of those who started courses in Autumn 2000 compared to 16 per cent among those entering higher education in 1999.

"It is encouraging that more students are finishing their courses despite more students going to university," said higher education minister Alan Johnson.

"We already have one of the best completion rates in the OECD, so to make an improvement is a real achievement.

"It is also good news that most universities are making positive progress on their access benchmarks.

"But there is still a lot more to do. The Office of Fair Access and the creation of access agreements will ensure that the government's and the universities' drive to widen participation will continue.

"The biggest problem is not admissions but getting more talented people from working class backgrounds to apply to our leading universities.

"That is why OFFA will have nothing to do with admissions and everything to do with encouraging greater applications from non-traditional students."

But the Liberal Democrats argued that the figures showed a proportion of students are being put off higher education by the fear of debt.

"Fear of debt is keeping students from poorer backgrounds out of our top universities. The advent of top-up fees will simply make matters worse," said education spokesman Phil Willis.

"Charles Clarke should take these numbers as a warning of a trend that will worsen if he goes ahead with his plans for top-up fees.

"The complex bureaucracy of an access regulator is unnecessary and inefficient. Instead, the government should take a look at a top-class university like Queen's University in Belfast, which has succeeded in getting a third of its students from the three poorest groups.

"The government's policy on top-up fees is unfair and inefficient. It denies universities the resources they need and keeps the poorer students out of higher education."