ONE-third of universities have seen a decline in the recruitment of students from Scotland's most deprived communities, figures show.
The drop comes despite a country-wide initiative to improve access to higher education.
A report by the Scottish Funding Council found that, overall, the proportion of first year undergraduate students from the 20 per cent most deprived communities going to university increased from 12.8 per cent to 13.3 per cent between 2011/12 and 2012/13.
However, six institutions saw a drop, with numbers falling at Dundee, Edinburgh Napier, Edinburgh, Glasgow School Of Art, the University of the Highlands and Islands and Stirling. Numbers stayed static at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.
Gordon Maloney, president of student body NUS Scotland, called on all universities to play their part in improving equality of access.
He said: "It is vital every institution, old and new, does all they can to boost fair access even further.
"While we know universities alone can't do it all on fair access, they can do much more.
"There is some encouraging figures contained in this report and with legislation on fair access and extra investment already in place we have a strong, national framework in place."
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, said annual exam figures - which consistently show a significant attainment gap between children from deprived and affluent backgrounds - highlighted the scale of the response required.
He said: "To widen access successfully you need to take a life-cycle approach from the early years, involving parents, throughout primary and secondary school, college and beyond.
"Scotland will see greater progress by acknowledging widening access to university is a shared responsibility and one all partners need to work together to address."
Laurence Howells, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), welcomed the increase in the overall figures - as well as highlighting a number of other positive trends.
The council's Learning For All report noted significant progress in the number of students transferring from college into university - a key way of widening access.
A total of 3,469 students articulated in 2012/13, which represents an increase of more than 500 students since 2010/11.
The data also shows fewer students dropped out, with 91.3 per cent finishing their studies, against 89.7 per cent in 2009/10.
Mr Howells said: "Scotland's colleges and universities are welcoming a more diverse range of people than ever before and helping them to succeed in their studies and in their lives beyond education."
Education Secretary Michael Russell added: "I am very pleased to see our continuing commitment to open up further and higher education to students from all backgrounds is making a difference."
The SFC report is an annual publication that presents statistics on widening access in the college and university sector.
The report records the proportions of entrants to undergraduate degrees in university from the most deprived areas of Scotland using the Scottish Index Of Multiple Deprivation.
The latest Learning For All report uses data for 2012/13, which pre-dates the creation of additional places at university that have been ring-fenced for widening access.
In 2013, the SFC spent £10 million to create about 2,000 extra university places, with more than half going to young people moving on from college to university.
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