The number of university places for new student teachers in NI has been cut by the Department of Education (DE) to its lowest level in about a decade.
The department said the decision "was made in light of the current service-wide budgetary context".
There will be 13 fewer places for prospective teachers for courses beginning in September.
In 2022-23 there were 580 new places on initial teacher education courses, but that has come down to 567 for 2023-24.
There are four universities in Northern Ireland which provide a range of teaching qualifications and education degrees.
They are Stranmillis University College, St Mary's University College, Queen's University and Ulster University.
In total, there are about 1,450 students taking initial teacher training across the four universities every year.
While the four are funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE), it is the Department of Education which sets the number of student teachers they admit.
