THE best young brains in Cumbria leave the county after their A level results and do not come back.' That, essentially, is the situation in South Lakeland and across the county, although the fact is not always stated so starkly.

Shadow education secretary and Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins said: "We have got a lot of very talented young people who come out of what are better than average schools, in South Lakeland particularly.

"Most of them go out of the county and once they go, they tend not to come back."

Cumbria County Council's portfolio-holder for education Joan Stocker said: "It's natural that young people go and seek new adventures but, in most places, there is an inflow of students in the other direction. However, if we don't have the courses that doesn't happen."

In 2003, Sir Brian Fender presented a report into higher education in Cumbria, to explore the situation of university-level courses in the face of the county's poor economic performance, made worse by foot-and-mouth disease.

He found an "urgent need to raise aspirations and to establish strong regeneration" and recommended the formation of a University of Cumbria.

The county has a lower-than-average population of 20- to 30-year-olds and experts believe the lack of strong Higher Education provision is partly to blame.

The brain drain' is a vicious circle where highly-qualified people leaving the area means firms find it harder to get the right staff, so the firms invest less, so fewer jobs are available, so the highly-qualified people go elsewhere.

In the wake of the Fender report, a body called University Education Cumbria was set up to keep clever Cumbrians in the county, attract more students from outside and attract investment.

UEC's project leader Tracy Marshall said she believed the first step was to provide better HE to attract more Cumbrian students.

Then, she said, stronger institutions would entice students from other parts of the country, stimulate new and more diverse industries and raise the profile of the county.

Peter Nixon, assistant principal of Cumbria Institute of the Arts, said: "I wouldn't say the brain drain was the main issue. What we are far more concerned with is getting students from other areas into the county for the first time."

Previously, he said, students who wanted to study law or engineering, for example, had to leave the county.

Councillor Stocker said: "Business students, law students and medics, we need those sorts of people in our community.

"We have seen tremendous growth in provision in the county. By sharing resources and looking at what holes we have then we can perhaps put together something really exciting."