Students are more likely to want universities to take a tougher line against drugs on campus, rather than a more liberal response, say researchers.
The study - from the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and the University of Buckingham - found 71% of students had not taken illegal drugs. But almost 40% thought their university had a "problem" with drug use.
Hepi's director, Nick Hillman, said students were "more hardworking and less hedonistic" than was realised.
The study, which surveyed more than a thousand undergraduate students, rejects the image of students being sympathetic to drug use, and suggests a more clean-living generation. It shows 62% wanting a "stronger line" from universities to stop the drugs trade on campus and 53% thinking that university authorities do not do enough to discourage drug use.
Drugs did not seem to be prevalent enough to be a major worry - with more students concerned about excessive alcohol consumption than illegal drug use. The negative view of drugs saw them as causing mental health problems and encouraging criminality. Last week an annual study of student attitudes from Hepi gave further evidence of a cultural shift towards a more hard-working approaching to student life. It showed that students wanted to have more teaching hours, seeing a heavier workload as better value for money.
Paying tuition fees and the pressure to get a good degree seem to have influenced what students expect from their years at university.
The results from this survey do not agree with another recent piece of research from the National Union of Students, which suggested that about two in five students were drug users. Cannabis, ecstasy, nitrous oxide and cocaine were the most widely used, according to a study which suggested that drugs were much more pervasive than claimed by the Hepi and University of Buckingham report.
