The year saw great strides in developing and enhancing the excellence of teaching quality in the University. All courses at Bradford take an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching and introduce students to the latest research in their area. Excellence Plus is an additional element of our approach. It will ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop subject-specific and transferable skills throughout their studies. Bradford's already excellent reputation for student support and for the employability of our graduates will be further enhanced by this innovation.

1999-2000 saw the University score highly in the assessment of teaching quality conducted by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. We had three visits, covering the whole School of Health Studies and the Department of Optometry and the School of Pharmacy. The University scored 23 out of a possible 24 points on each occasion, levels which are currently referred to as 'excellent' in the national press. The scores awarded to the School of Health Studies mean that it has performed better than any comparable unit in the country.

The Management Centre also excelled. It was ranked among the top 75 business schools in the world and the top 10 in Britain by an influential Financial Times survey.

It also gained the coveted European business school quality kitemark under the European Foundation for Management Development's EQUIS scheme. EQUIS has accredited 34 schools in Europe, only seven of them in the UK. Of these, only three, including Bradford, were "Full-service" business schools covering the complete range of management education from undergraduate through MBA, MA and executive development provision, to PhD and research programmes.

Awards were made to celebrate teaching excellence, with the Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching. These awards recognise members of academic staff who have made a significant contribution to teaching, and went to Dr David Cotton (Environmental Science), Daragh O'Reilly (Management Centre) and Adrian Pearce and Andrea Cassidy as joint recipients (Division of Health Care Studies in the School of Health Studies).

Work has continued to enhance the student environment and total learning experience through a range of learning, teaching and support activities. Emphasis has also been placed on increasing the levels of activity in graduate study through the establishment of the Graduate School, which brings together the University's postgraduate provision in a positive and supportive environment.