Renting a site it used to own is costing the government less, a minister says.

University College Isle of Man has a campus on the Nunnery, on the edge of Douglas.

The Nunnery was sold by the government for £5 million in 2015.

It is now owned by the International Centre of Technology, which aims to create a ’central hub’ for technological development, partnering with UCM.

Education Minister Graham Cregeen told MHKs: ’The rent of the Nunnery is £62,835, rising each year by the CPI inflation index, and there is a service change of £75,260 per annum, again, subject to a yearly inflationary rise.

’These costs are less than when the college and government ran the site.’

Julie Edge (Onchan) asked Mr Cregeen when the decision to continue with the current arrangement was reviewed.

Mr Cregeen said it was reviewed last summer.

’The decision to continue utilising the Nunnery was made in discussions with the University of Chester, as students are enrolled on their degree courses, and so at the end of the initial year they wished to check the students’ evaluations to ensure that students were happy with the learning environment that they had been provided.’

The minister said the Department of Education, Sport and Culture could exercise a break clause in the lease by giving six months’ notice, as could ICT Limited.