Student drop-out rates were on the rise in Britain's universities, latest official figures showed on Thursday.

The number of students who quit after their first year in university rose from 7.3 percent from 2001's intake to 7.8 percent among those starting in 2002, registering a rise of about 1,800 students, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) said.

The HESA figures showed that 18,565 young students dropped out of university or college after starting their courses in Britain in 2002, up from 16,795 in the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, 10,755 mature students abandoned their courses after one year, up by about 1,000 over the previous year.

In a television interview, Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said Britain's course completion rates were higher than other developed countries and the government continued to encourage low-performing institutions to improve.

The HESA predicted that 14.4 percent of full-time students who started their first degrees in 2002 would not complete their courses, compared to the rate of 14.1 percent one year earlier.

Drop-out rates were the highest in some Scottish colleges. In Scotland, the highest rates were at Bell College in Hamilton which saw 38.5 percent first-year drop-out rate.

The University of Abertay Dundee, Napier University and the University of Paisley all had first-year drop-out rates above 20 percent.