The first problem to emerge was that the generator we had installed to

The first problem to emerge was that the generator we had installed to power the computers was not large enough. We were getting into silly situations where you could have three computers working but couldn’t have the kettle on at the same time, so people could get on the bus and learn about IT but couldn’t have a cup of tea.Our other challenge was to find a driver. Then the downstairs was set up as a creche, where parents will be able to leave their children while they study.To make sure things would run smoothly when we launched the project this week, we ran a pilot scheme with the bus over the summer. Often, they are wary about going back to college, or feel it’s too late for them to gain qualifications. With a double-decker bus with a creche downstairs and computer suite upstairs, we can come right to their doorsteps. The idea is that students can do basic courses in IT or confidence-building and then progress as far as they want to, moving on to Bolton Institute or elsewhere.Once we’d had the bus deep-cleaned to get rid of the sticky paper, joiners partitioned the top deck to create a learning centre with desks and room for six Pentium computers. Bridie Wareing is an access officer at Bolton Institute of Higher Education and joint project manager of the Bolton Opportunities Bus.

When we got the bus last spring it was multi-coloured on the outside and full of bits of sticky paper and balloons. Bolton Council had used it as a children’s playbus, and we had to do a lot of kitting out to convert it.
Our plan is to use the bus to take education opportunities to people in parts of Bolton who may have missed out the first time round. A film club shows big-name movies and cult pics and arranges a weekly cinema trip to Swansea The town has 12 inns and hostelries. Theatre, mainly in Welsh, is 15 minutes away.Cheap to live in? Yes. It costs pounds 35-pounds 40 a week to live in student or private accommodation.Buzzword: Unigryw, pronounced inigrew (Welsh for unique) Next week: Lancaster. The students’ union has three discos a week in the union hall, which is being extended and will be completed by the end of the year in time for the Christmas bash. But 93 per cent of staff are actively engaged in research.Financial health: claims to be solvent.Nightlife: students make their own entertainment Aberystwyth is the local big time.

Travel by bus to Carmarthen or Aberystwyth and then catch the train on to London, Cardiff or Birmingham.Who’s the boss? Modern historian Keith Robbins, who likes to garden, walk and listen to music.Teaching rating: rated excellent in archaeology by the higher education funding council for Wales and highly satisfactory in other departments assessed so far.Research: came 60th out of 101 in the research assessment exercise, bottom of the league table for the “old” universities, with its most highly rated department theology and religious studies which received a grade 4 (maximum is 5). Centre for Islamic Studies being housed in brand new building paid for by Sheik Said Foundation in the United Arab Emirates.Easy to get into? Depends on the subject. B, C and E at A-level required for English and archaeology; a C and two Ds for geography.Glittering alumni: George Austin, sometimes controversial Archdeacon of York; Andrew Curl, vice-president of Smith Kline Beecham; Adrian Mourby, novelist and head of drama, BBC Wales; Dic Edwards, playwright; Oliver Gray, founder/director of the Illyria Theatre Company, the most extensive network of outdoor Shakespeare; Sue Slipman, formerly of the National Council for One Parent Families, now doyenne of the Gas Consumers Council; Sulak Sivaraksa, Thai dissident; Jack Higgins, thriller writer.Transport links: buses are your best – and only – bet if you don’t have your own car. Which makes it unique.Added value: unusual collection of books and manuscripts held in the original 19th-century founder’s library including 12th-century Bible. The anthropology department set up and runs the Tairona Heritage Trust to help the Kogi Indians of Columbia buy their homelands.