Promotions at NUIG after ‘process errors’

NUI Galway is to promote three people to senior lecturer grade after scoring errors in the promotion process were highlighted during appeals.

The move comes as the university’s governing authority plans various steps to develop its gender equality policies following recent criticisms by the Equality Tribunal.

The issues were highlighted in last month’s decision of the tribunal to award €70,000 compensation to botanist Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington for gender discrimination, after she missed out on promotion to the role of senior lecturer at the university.

Men had a more than a one-in-two chance but this fell to less than one in three for female applicants seeking promotion from 2001 to 2009 to senior lecturer, the grade for which she applied four times without success. The equality officer described as ramshackle the 2009 interview process, in which there was no prior training for the interview board.

NUI Galway’s governing authority agreed on Tuesday to review the promotion process, in light of the 2008/09 round which was the subject of Ms Sheehy-Skeffington’s complaint, and the latest round of promotions.