UNIVERSITY applications from students living in the North East have fallen by more than 14% with the introduction of new tuition fees, new figures show.

Data released yesterday by university admission service UCAS gives the first indication of the impact of fees of up to £9,000 a year which come into effect next September.

Only the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber have suffered larger decreases in the number of applications compared to the same point last year. The national average is a fall of 9%.

The figures have been released after the October 15 deadline for applications to medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses at Oxford and Cambridge, but also include all applications received so far for courses with a deadline of January 15 next year.

Last night Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell expressed her alarm at the collapse in numbers of North East youngsters looking to go to university.

“Although these aren’t the final figures for university applications, they do indicate a worrying trend,” the shadow education minister said.

“I am particularly concerned that the North East seems to have seen a bigger fall in applications than the rest of the country overall, which backs up my initial fears that the Government’s new fees regime would put off a significant number of people from the region from considering higher education.

“Even more worrying is that this fall in applications comes at a time of high youth unemployment for the North East when you might expect more young people to want to go university or take on training places, rather than risk trying to find work in what is an exceptionally difficult labour market.”