The number of EU students applying to study at universities in the UK has seen an early decline, figures have revealed.

According to the data, there has been a 9 per cent fall in EU applications to the early October deadline, reversing the four year trend in annual increases.

The numbers, released by Ucas (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), detail applicant numbers for higher education courses with the early October deadline, including medicine and dentistry, and applications for the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.

Some 6,240 EU students applied to the early deadline this year, a 9 per cent decrease on the 6,860 who applied last year. This is despite a 3 per cent rise in the number of UK applicants and a 1 per cent rise in overseas students to the same deadline.