More than £7m in funding has been allocated to expand the computer science teaching facilities at Queen's University Belfast.

Some £7.49m has been given for the redevelopment work, which is taking place on the site of the Bernard Crossland building on the Malone Road.

The Department for Employment and Learning and Queen's University are contributing 50% each. The work is expected to cost £14.98m in total.

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Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry welcomed the news and said it would be a major boost to the economy and higher education sector.

Minister Farry said: "Since I took up office in 2011, much work has been conducted to improve our skills base to the local ICT industry. There has been an increase of around 1,500 undergraduate places in local higher education institutions – all in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. This is complemented by a 60% increase in publicly-funded PhDs in economically relevant areas.

"We have also increased applications for IT-related degrees at our local universities, developed IT apprenticeship schemes and created conversion courses and bespoke academies to encourage people into the sector."

(CD/JP)