Bradford has declared itself an ‘ecoversity’, addressing issues of sustainable development in all its practices, including the curriculum. The most visible sign will be the opening of a sustainable student village in 2010, which will cater mainly for firstyear and international students. The development is part of a £70-million modernisation plan that includes a £7-million investment in new and upgraded teaching facilities. Another project produced a distinctive four-storey Atrium, which has brought together all student support services in a single, open plan social space.

Still a relatively small university of 13,000 students, Bradford has carved out a niche for itself with mature students, who now make up over a quarter of all undergraduates. They relish the vocational slant and the accent on work experience and placcement courses, which regularly place Bradford near the top of the graduate employment tables – it was second on this measure in last year’s Times table. Demand for places recovered after a difficult period, although applications were down by more than the national average this year and last. Admission requirements have been rising, although they are modest compared with many old universities.

Access

Nearly than one in five of the university’s students are from overseas, many of them taught in partner institutions in locations as diverse as Poland, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Nearer home, there are alliances with a number of further education colleges to help boost participation in a region where it is well below the national average. The colleges offer 10 Foundation degrees in areas such as public sector administration, community justice, engineering technology and enterprise in IT. Perhaps the best known is in health and social care, where the university was already expanding opportunities locally, bringing about a fourfold increase in enrolments by young women from South Asian families.

Location and facilities

The relatively small, lively campus is close to the city centre. Health students have their own building a few minutes’ walk away, while a shuttle bus service runs to the highly rated management school is two miles away in a 14-acre parkland setting. The eventual aim is to develop a health and science quarter, with the School of Health Studies housed in its own building on campus. Other projects will enhance the academic facilities and create more social space for students, beginning with improved laboratories for chemical and forensic science, more teaching accommodation and new sports facilities including a gym and climbing wall and an improved sports hall.

Teaching

Nursing, pharmacy and other health studies all did well in teaching quality assessments, while politics and the inter-disciplinary human studies programme, which combines psychology, literature and sociology with the study of philosophy, was awarded full marks. The university also did well in the first national student satisfaction survey, although it was in the bottom half of the table in 2008.

Some 80 per cent of the work submitted for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise was placed in the top two categories, although more than a third of the academics were not entered. Social work and social policy, politics, civil engineering and pharmacy produced the best results. Politics includes the university’s best-known offering of peace studies, which has acquired an international reputation. Recent attempts to raise Bradford’s research profile have included the establishment of a £6-million Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation opened in 2003 and an Institute of Cancer Therapeutics in 2005.

Development

The university has launched suites of ICT and media studies courses to add to those in e-commerce and internet computing, computer animation and special effects, interactive systems and video games design. Computer-assisted learning is increasing in many subjects, making use of unusually extensive IT provision and a new wireless network. Some courses feature online assessment and the use of laptops in lectures.

More southerners are being attracted to Bradford’s status as Britain’s cheapest student city. The 1,700 places in self-catering halls are reasonably priced and all have internet connections. There is particularly good provision for disabled students, who account for 6 per cent of the university population. The university’s senior management group includes a Director of Student Engagement to ensure that the student voice is heard in future developments. The students’ union operates a free late-night “safety bus” for those living within two miles of the campus.

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