The North's education minister, Mr Tony Worthington, has moved to dampen speculation that the go-ahead will be given for a £90 million university straddling the peace line in west Belfast.
The decision by the British Millennium Commission to provide £1.5 million towards an "educational village" on the site of the proposed University of Ulster campus at Springvale fuelled hopes that the British government is planning to eventually finance the project.
Prof Wallace Ewart, director of the university's Springvale project said the funding for the "village", which is to provide vocational and academic learning, was a "vote of confidence" in the overall university plan. "This news shows that the Springvale proposal would be a high yield investment for the community," he said.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, was sceptical that the British government would fund a new campus at Springvale. He believed Mr Worthington had already made his decision not to allow a full-scale university campus.
Renewed speculation about the campus was prompted by one university report that the go-ahead was about to be given for the Springvale project - the original proposal was shelved by the last British government.
Mr Worthington was at pains yesterday to play down the speculation. He said the newspaper report was inaccurate, and added that the original proposal was overtaken by events.
"Discussions are taking place between the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, and the University of Ulster," he said. "But these discussions are at an early state; they are still tentative and are being appraised. No decision on them is likely for some time," Mr Worthington added.
