The study, which covered 2004 to 2014, also found students are drinking less in pubs and covered a period when student haunts the Bowling Green Tavern and the 'Gardies' closed.
Prof Kypros Kypri, of the university's department of preventive and social medicine, said it showed the university's involvement in objecting to licence renewals possibly creating a tipping point for businesses that had survived by breaching server laws.
It found that while just as many students were drinking, they were getting intoxicated less often.
In 2004 an average of 45% of students had been intoxicated in the previous week, compared to 33% in 2014.
"This is a substantial decrease during the period of alcohol policy reform," Prof Kypri.
"This was achieved without reducing the prevalence of drinking, which suggests that institutional policies can exert positive influence on how people drink."
He noted that the significant reduction in the frequency of students getting drunk coincided with fewer people drinking at bars.
"The finding calls into question industry claims that licensed premises are less conducive to heavy drinking than other environments."
Apart from objecting to licence renewals the university had generally cracked down on poor behaviour over the period.
"By issuing a clear statement of institutional values through the Code of Student Conduct, introducing a policy with highly visible symbolic value (the advertising ban) and implementing a well-resourced prevention programme (Campus Watch), the university began attracting fewer hazardous drinkers."