Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Gwendoline Christie
Revealing mistake: While Poe leads the aerial assault on the oscillator, in the closeups of Poe and other X-wing fighter pilots, note the cockpit windows at the pilots' left and right have identical marks and scratches in their individual X-wings. It's particularly noticeable when one closeup follows another.
Trivia: When Rey has her vision after touching Luke's lightsaber, she hears a voice at the end that says, "Rey, these are your first steps." The voice that says "Rey" was a partial sound bite taken from the late Sir Alec Guinness saying "afraid," and Ewan McGregor came in to record "these are your first steps." So you're hearing both the voice of old Ben Kenobi and young Obi Wan Kenobi speaking.
Question: This is a two part question. Firstly how many students did Luke have before his academy was destroyed by Kylo Ren? Secondly what will happen to the New Republic now its capital is destroyed?
Answer: We learn in The Last Jedi that Luke had Ben Solo/Kylo Ren and a dozen other apprentices. Kylo killed 6 of them and took the remaining six as is apprentices, the Knights of Ren.
The knights of Ren are not the six apprentices Kylo takes with him. The knights of Ren are Snoke's followers, dark force users. Kylo joins them and becomes their leader later on.
Answer: Any answer would be conjecture - best just watch the next movie.