Staff at the Dublin Institute of Technology's Aungier Street campus have been advised by their union not to co-operate with an expert review group which is assessing the DIT for university status. In a setback to the DIT's efforts to seek an upgrading of its status, lecturing staff at the DIT's main campus in Aungier Street, represented by the Teachers' Union of Ireland, are refusing to have any communication with the expert group.The decision follows a continuing dispute over the failure to provide permanent posts for a number of part-time staff in Aungier Street. Unless this dispute is resolved to the TUI's satisfaction, staff maintain that they will not assist the expert group in its work.The seven-member review group, which includes two international experts as well as members of the Irish business and academic communities, is due to visit the DIT as a university. The group will report to the Higher Education Authority on the DIT's suitability for redesignation. The DIT has been assessed previously by a similar group, which presented a report in 1996 to the then minister for education, Ms Niamh Bhreathnach, advising that the institute should be considered for full university status.The DIT subsequently launched an unsuccessful campaign to be included as a university institution under the Universities Act.The secretary of the DIT, Mr Robert Lawlor, said that discussions on the dispute were continuing, with the aim of resolving the matter "in the very near future".