The Government's drive to boost university student numbers is faltering, official figures show, writes Jessica Shepherd.
Exactly 42 per cent of 17 to 30-year-olds in England were in higher education in 2004-05 - down by 0.3 per cent on 2003-04 and by 1.4 per cent on 2002-03.
The fall is a major blow for the Labour Government's target of attracting half of all 18 to 30-year-olds in England into higher education by 2010 - although ministers have increasingly distanced themselves from this goal.
It will also prompt further questions about the billions of pounds spent by universities to lure more students into higher education.
Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs said that the latest figures, which were placed without fanfare on the website of the Office of National Statistics earlier this year, were proof of the failure of the policy. The parties urged a rethink on university participation.
David Willetts, Tory Shadow Education Secretary, called the statistics "deeply worrying" and said the figures raised questions about whether the money being poured into widening participation was being put to good use.
He said: "Despite everything the Government has claimed, participation rates are getting worse.
"The Government needs to rethink its approach. I'm sceptical that the 'towards 50 per cent' target can be reached.
"Universities are doing their best to reach out to increase participation, but if there aren't enough students coming through with the right mix of A Levels, especially from state schools, then what can they do?"
Liberal Democrat MP Phil Willis said: "The Government target of a 50 per cent participation rate is now little more than a vain hope as the number of new entrants continues to fall."
But Bill Rammell, Minister for Higher Education, said: "They (the figures) show that the numbers of initial entrants aged between 17 and 30 to higher education have increased by 25,000 since 1999-2000. We welcome this.
"But the numbers of initial entrants expressed as percentages of young people aged 17-30 for 2003-04 and 2004-05 haven't increased for demographic reasons - there are increasing numbers of young people in the 17 to 30 age groups."
The figures also reveal a drop in the number of male students in higher education.
The latest Higher Education Initial Participation Rate figures show that 37.3 per cent of men between 17 and 30 were in higher education in 2004-05, down 0.2 per cent on 2003-04, and down 1.9 per cent on 2002-03.
The number of women aged between 17 and 30 also fell in 2004-05 to 46.8 per cent from 47.4 per cent.
The number of students enrolling on part-time degrees fell to 6.7 per cent of all 17 to 30-year-olds, from 7 per cent.
Statisticians compiled the figures by adding the participation rates in higher education for each age cohort between 17 and 30 years old in England.
Alan Smithers, head of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said that the fall in participation in the yearJbefore top-up fees was particularly surprising. "I thought that students were trying to get in before the new fee arrangement, so to see that participation rates have gone down is remarkable."
Meanwhile, university heads have raised concerns about the number of students withdrawing their application to study for a degree. Even before the A-level results came out this week, there were almost twice as many withdrawals as there were last year.
By last Tuesday, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service had recorded 5,396 withdrawn applications - 2,667 more than at the same time last year.
John Cater, vice-chancellor of Edge Hill University, which has seen a 60 per cent rise in withdrawals despite an overall increase in the number of applications, suggested that top-up fees were making more students think twice about doing a degree.
"Students who might in the past have drifted into higher education are now beginning to ask themselves whether it is worth the investment," he said.