HIV/Aids among students and staff at colleges and universities is lower than the general population, but there are areas of concern, a study shows.

Academic staff have the lowest overall HIV prevalence at 1.5 percent, followed by students at 3.4 percent, administrative staff at 4.4 percent and service staff at 12.2 percent, according to the study, released at the Higher Education HIV/Aids programme in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Among the general population the prevalence rate is 16.9 percent in the 15 to 49 age group.

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest prevalence by institutional category, followed by the Eastern Cape, with the lowest reported in the Western Cape, researchers commissioned by the department of higher education found.

They found that sex with older partners was a risk factor, and that seven percent of female students aged 18 to 24 reported that their most recent sexual partner was 10 or more years older.

Of this group, 12.8 percent were HIV positive.

In comparison, among those with partners less than 10 years older, the HIV prevalence was 3.1 percent.

Nineteen percent of male students and six percent of female students had more than one partner in the month before the research was conducted.

Alcohol consumption and binge drinking carried the risk of increased levels of sexual coercion and researchers also found that casual sex and alcohol use were intertwined.

Binge drinking was reported to be the major source of recreation on many campuses over the weekends, together with sex, especially in isolated and rural areas with poor recreational facilities.

But, the researchers were surprised to find that students who admitted to being drunk in the last month were substantially and significantly less likely to be HIV positive.

Campus health staff also expressed frustration at the apparent failure of students to take care of their own reproductive health with reports of up to 20 students requiring emergency contraception and pregnancy tests on Monday mornings. They found that these were often related to alcohol intake.

They found that men in general were more likely to have positive attitudes towards one night stands and towards having concurrent partners. Some men had permanent girlfriends at home and other girlfriends on campus.

Friends protected each other by not revealing these encounters to the other partner.

Condom use at the last sexual encounter was high among students compared to other groups with 65 percent among males between 18 and 24, and 65 percent among those aged 25 or older.

Students who are in relationships and who use condoms, inevitably stop using condoms after three months, the study found.

Some of the students interviewed said that when they got to university they were "free" for the first time in their lives, and they wanted to experience everything, including sex.

Most students in higher education have had sex before matriculation (73 percent), but a large number are likely to have sex for the first time during the period they are at university.

Although not prevalent, some students reported having sex for better marks, for gifts, or for social status and acceptance.

At the release of the report, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande supported the government's efforts to bring down HIV/Aids prevalence rates.

"We are convinced that through collective efforts, we would be able to contain the spread of the disease, and reverse its negative impact on our communities," he said.

Otherwise, "... we will be training young people for the grave, instead of the workplace."