The last year has seen the University move into the new millennium with confidence, energy and enthusiasm.

Our aim has been to meet the needs of our students, our local community, and partners in education, industry and overseas through a range of new and exciting initiatives. The period has been one of major organisational change within the University with the creation of 7 academic Schools as well as the introduction of a new Graduate School. We have also set up two non-academic planning units in the form of Central and Corporate Services and, crucially, Learning Support Services, which integrates computer services and our library provision. This major change, some 22 departments reorganised into 7 academic Schools, has been strategically driven and has been fully supported across the University as we aim to build on our reputation as a quality-driven institution.

The year has also seen the production of a corporate plan, setting out our aims and objectives for the next five years. The plan has emerged from an extensive consultation process with our internal and external stakeholders, and outlines how the University is responding to the challenges of the new millennium. The newly implemented planning and budgeting system will enable aims and objectives to be linked at every level and the contribution of everyone will be recognised and valued.

Substantial developments have been made in a wide range of fields - from teaching and learning to research, from buildings to finance - and we have started reaping the rewards of thinking and acting strategically.

We were delighted and pleased that the University achieved "excellent" Teaching Quality Assessment scores in "subjects allied to medicine" and "nursing and midwifery" which involved the School of Health Studies' divisions of physiotherapy, radiography, health care studies, dementia care, nursing and midwifery, together with the Department of Optometry. A further "excellent" assessment was made in "pharmacy", made possible through the hard work of our School of Pharmacy. Membership of the Institute of Teaching and Learning amongst staff at the University has also increased, reflecting the commitment of staff to raising standards yet further.

We have continued to build on our reputation for research with three Research Council Awards - in Chemical Engineering, Modern Languages and Archaeological Sciences - and Leverhulme Awards in the last two and Peace Studies. Research is a high priority for the University and the establishment of a new University-wide Graduate School, and the appointment of its Director, and a Director of Research, are important indicators of our continuing commitment to excellence in research and graduate education.

At Bradford we have a major strategic commitment to Widening Participation within our student population and seek both to 'confront inequality' and 'celebrate diversity'. We are proud of our achievement in this area and throughout the year have put into place a number of new initiatives, including the appointment of a Professor of Lifelong Learning, that we hope will further increase the number of students we recruit from typically under-represented backgrounds. Ground-breaking initiatives like the Junior University, a programme to help youngsters, particularly those from ethnic minorities, improve their academic performance have helped us reach out to our own local communities, but we are determined to do more.

We are at the forefront of the Government's introduction of the new qualification, the Foundation Degree. Bradford is amongst the first of a select group of universities that will be able to award this qualification.

This initiative is undoubtedly due to our reputation as an innovative, leading-edge and caring university.

Equally, Bradford's emphasis on strong student support has helped us strengthen progression routes - 94% compared to a sector-wide average of 82% - and we are building on this achievement both centrally and through the infrastructure within the Schools themselves.

Later in this report, you will find more information on our collaborative partnerships. These, we believe, will help shape the future of our University and improve the quality of the teaching, research and other services we provide, in addition to enhancing the student experience.

Working relationships have been further developed within the Yorkshire and Humberside Universities Association, with Bradford College, neighbouring universities and others further afield that have similar profiles. Our contacts with the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and with industry continue to bear fruit, and it is this foundation that has allowed us to attain our position as one of the UK's top ten universities for graduates moving into employment. In 1999, 94%* of our students were in employment or further study within 6 months of graduating.

Our work with industry was further recognised with the award of £500,000 "Reach Out" funding to underpin work with business and the community. Equally significantly, Continuing Education led the bid to evaluate HEFCE's nation-wide strategy to widen participation, and the School of Health Studies won similar amounts to evaluate the Health Action Zones across the UK. These initiatives show how the University is playing its part in very practical terms locally, whilst providing national input and evaluation on social and health policies affecting us all.

1999-2000 saw the University of Bradford make substantial progress and I believe that we have firmly embedded the quality message in everything we do. We have a University with a wide social base, offering distinctive teaching, learning and research of the highest quality, working in collaboration with local, national and international partnerships.

Our overarching mission of 'Making Knowledge Work' together with our commitment to 'Confronting Inequality and Celebrating Diversity' will enable the institution to respond positively and dynamically to the challenges facing higher education, both now and in the future.

*derived from annually published data based on those UK domiciled graduates who are available for employment and further study and whose destinations are known.