A £300,000 penalty imposed on UCG for flouting staff promotion regulations will not be levied in future years, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has decided, writes Paul Cullen, Education Correspondent.
The amount was deducted from the college's budget this year after it upgraded more than 30 non academic staff without obtaining the required sanction from the HEA.
The decision to revoke the yearly fine follows an appeal by UCG, which gave an undertaking that the situation would not recur. The college promised that in future the HEA would be consulted when staff were being promoted.
UCG had warned of stringent cutbacks in a number of university activities if the fine was not lifted.
In 1991, UCG was fined £200,000 by the HEA for overspending its budget.