Travel to work
This year the School for Policy Studies won a Cycle Friendly Employer’s Award organised by Project Bike, a regional scheme to promote commuter cycling. Hilary Land, Professor of Family Policy and Child Welfare, and Head of the School, was presented with the award by Neil Kinnock, as European Transport Commissioner. To qualify for an award, employers have to provide facilities such as bike-parking, lockers and showers and offer incentives such as mileage allowance for cycle use.

Centre for Healthy Living & Sports Medicine
From the couch potato to the top athlete: all are catered for. Having discovered during a physical MOT at the new Centre that you can hardly see your toes, let alone touch them, you could take a four-week course on sensible eating and exercise, sign up for a gentle Stretch and Flexibility class, or attend a Start-to-exercise activity morning designed for people who have not exercised before. A Healthy Hearts exercise class, supported by the Bristol Royal Infirmary, provides for those who are susceptible to heart disease or have had surgery, and for the more athletic there are aerobics classes, exercise equipment, circuit training and squash courts.

The Centre also offers a complete sports medicine service from initial diagnosis and treatment to full rehabilitation. Sports massage therapy is available to alleviate muscle tightness and strain, and a physiotherapy service treats those with recent injuries or recurring problems. This is one of around 30 centres throughout the country which are accredited by the National Sports Medicine Institute in association with the new UK Sports Institute. The Centre is currently based at Woodland House but a new building is planned, subject to funding success. The facilities are open to students, staff and members of the general public. Among the first users when the Centre opened on 1June were several members of the Over 60s group who have been involved in exercise classes and swimming activities in the University for many years.

Investors in People
In April the Investors in People Standard was awarded to the Institute for Learning and Research Technology. This national award showed that the Institute was fully committed to staff development and participative management. Staff at the Institute agree that it is a rewarding place to work and they have benefited in preparing for the Standard, with a programme of internal skills sharing, staff presentations and ‘tea-bytes’ with external speakers, and Away Days for planning and development. Other departments in the University are currently working towards achievement of the Investors Standard.

Dolphin
Thanks to a new system called Dolphin, student records are now more comprehensive and will be easier to access. After extensive trials Dolphin went live during the 1998-99 session. Last year it coped admirably with the 36,000 applicants for undergraduate places and over 4,000 applying for postgraduate study. It is currently handling records for 10,000 undergraduates and 6,000 postgraduates. So far 120 University staff have access to the system, and before the end of 1999 many of the University’s 44 departments will be able to log on to Dolphin, to read relevant parts of the record and, eventually, to enter data in certain fields.