The UK government's tuition fees policy has come under fire after official figures pointed to an overall drop in the number of applications for university courses.

Admissions service Ucas said applications for UK courses were down 9%, falling from 76,612 in October in 2010 to 69,724 in 2011.

Regional figures showed a 15.4% drop in applications for Scottish-domiciled students to study in England and a 10.2% drop for Scottish students applying to study north of the border from 2012/13.

There was also a fall of 4.5% in the number of English students applying to study in Scotland.

Applications from England, Wales and Northern Ireland to Scottish universities were down by 5.7% compared to the same point last year. However, the fall was less than the 11.9% drop in UK applicants to universities in England.

Ucas said it was too early to make predictions about the final figures for 2012, as most courses have an application deadline in January.

They also said that for those universities which had an October deadline, the reduction in applicants was less than 1%.

However, the figures offer an initial suggestion of trends since Scottish universities announced their fee intentions for students who normally reside in the rest of the UK.

In November 2010 the UK government published a funding plan allowing universities to charge students tuition fees of up to £9000.

Several universities, including St Andrews and Edinburgh, set their fees at the maximum level of £9000 per year for students from the rest of the UK, meaning that a four-year honours degree at the universities will cost £36,000.

Other institutions, such as Aberdeen and Heriot-Watt universities, announced £9000 yearly fees, although they capped the cost of a degree at £27,000.

Student leaders voiced concern over the figures and called on the Scottish Government and university principals to take action if the trend continues.

Robin Parker, president of the National Union of Students (NUS) in Scotland, said: "We have real concern that these figures show that the confusion and fear of fees created by Westminster's damaging fees policy is having an impact on people in Scotland's decisions, even though the Scottish Government has rightly decided to not introduce fees.

"We just hope that it's more that people are putting off applying rather than being put off from going to university altogether."

Universities Scotland, the body which represents Scotland's universities and higher education colleges, said the figures come too early in the cycle to make accurate predictions about student demand.