Update: 12:35

Student expansion target under threat, warn Tories
Shadow higher education minister Alistair Burt today warned that student numbers are falling "well short" of the government's target. Mr Burt said that an extra 30,000 more students a year were needed. However, figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service today suggest that demand for higher education is stagnant. Just 2,286 more British people applied this year.

MPs call for marmoset research inquiry
A group of MPs has called for the government to launch an independent inquiry into the use of marmosets in brain research at Cambridge University after the issue was highlighted by an animal rights group.  The cross party group of MPs, including prominent animal lovers Ann Widdecombe and Tony Banks, tabled an early day motion in the Commons which also called for an independent inquiry into the use of primates in experiments in general. The move was prompted by an investigation by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection into the marmoset research at Cambridge. The House of Lords is due to publish its report on animals in scientific procedures next week. The committee was set up under the chairmanship of Lord Smith of Clifton.

New master appointed at Birkbeck
David Latchman, dean of the Institute of Child Health, has been appointed master of Birkbeck College, London. Professor Latchman will take up the post in January. The current master, Tim O'Shea, will become vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh in October.

Replacement v-c at Monash University
Melbourne's Monash University has appointed a new vice-chancellor while the search continues for a "longer-term" replacement for David Robinson, who resigned in the face of a series of plagiarism cases. Peter Darvall, an engineer, has been a deputy vice-chancellor at Monash since 1993.

Nairobi students clash with police
Hundreds of University of Nairobi students clashed with police in the worst riots for a year today after a student was shot in what the authorities said was a drugs raid on campus yesterday. Students say evidence was planted but police said the student lunged at them with a knife.