UNIVERSITIES across the region are being encouraged to recruit more students, despite some suffering from a sharp drop in applications.

The Government wants to see more than half of people under the age of 30 going in to higher education by 2011.

More than 16,000 extra places have been created across the country this autumn.

But some universities, such as Sunderland and Northumbria, in Newcastle, have reported a fall in applications for this year.

The number of applicants for Sunderland was nine per cent down yesterday on the previous year, while figures up to the end of June showed Northumbria seven per cent down.

A spokesman for Sunderland said the university had experienced a decline in demand for some subjects, including engineering.

But applications are up for courses such as teacher training, law, and media - with international recruitment up 100 per cent.

He said: "Despite a decline in undergraduate applications of nine per cent , we still have many more applications than we have places, and the university is confident it will meet its undergraduate recruitment targets."

A spokeswoman for Northumbria University said applications were down, but they are confident of recruiting 7,000 students, the same number as last year.

Figures released by the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) up to June 30, showed that Durham was 0.7 per cent down on applications; Newcastle 4.4 per cent up; Teesside 12.6 per cent up and York 1.2 per cent up.

The figures are expected to change when the A-level results are released on Thursday