By John Elmes. Universities have suffered a cut in initial teacher training (ITT) places as the government continues to expand its Schools Direct policy.
In its first statistical release of ITT places for the 2015-16 academic year, the National College for Teaching and Leadership has allocated 22,244 places to higher education institutions, down from 23,095 for the 2014-15 academic year. More...

By Chris Parr. The University of Birmingham has become the first institution in Europe to partner with the US publisher Wiley to develop online master’s courses. More...

By Chris Parr. Simon Nelson tells Times Higher Education podcast original claims were ‘overhyped and unrealistic’.
Massive open online courses will not transform education or destroy the university system, and their potential to disrupt has been overhyped, according to the head of the UK Mooc platform FutureLearn. More...

By Holly Else. A French academic has won the Nobel Prize for economics for his work on market power and regulation.
Jean Tirole, a professor at Toulouse 1 Capitole University, has secured the SEK 8 million (£690,000) award, known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. More...

By Holly Else. Four PhD students from UK universities have made it to the final of a competition that challenges them to present their research in three minutes. More...

By Jack Grove. With less than seven months left until the general election, eyes are turning towards the impact that university students may have on the outcome. More...

By Jack Grove. University applicants still rely heavily on parental advice when picking their course, a new survey says.
Almost a quarter of sixth-form students (22 per cent) say their parents’ opinions are an important factor in picking a university, while one in seven (14 per cent) go as far to say this advice is more important than their own views, according to a OnePoll survey of 500 students aged 16 to 18. More...

By Jack Grove. Universities have set out their plans to reform the sector’s largest pension scheme.
In a document published on 13 October, Universities UK confirms that it wants to end the final salary arrangements offered by the Universities Superannuation Scheme by April 2016 and move members to a career average (career revalued benefits or CRB) scheme. More...