Insights and evaluation library

Explore research, view current projects and discover resources, designed to help you plan and deliver effective evaluations for your widening-participation interventions.

Use the search and the filters below to explore the resources.

Completed project

Completed project

Project | What works to tackle mental health inequalities in higher education?

17 February 2022

Some student groups are more likely to experience poor mental health than others. We examined which measures are most effective at improving student mental health in higher education.

Mental health and wellbeing
Report

Report

Report | Supporting access and student success for mature learners

A report of a review undertaken to understand evidence around supporting higher education access and student success for mature learners, and a survey experiment on which institutional features are attractive to mature learners.

Access to higher education
Report

Report

Report | An investigation into the relationship between outreach participation and KS4 attainment / HE progression

An analysis of the Higher Education Access Tracking (HEAT) Service’s dataset on the relationship between Key Stage 4 attainment and higher education progression.

Attainment raising
Current project

Current project

Project | Summer school evaluation

18 February 2021

Students who attend a university summer school may have a more positive attitude towards higher education as a result. This project looks at the link between summer schools and access to higher education.

Summer schoolsAdditional study
Current project

Current project

Project | Multi-intervention outreach and mentoring

18 February 2021

Outreach and mentoring programmes combining two or more student support activities are associated with positive attitudes towards higher education. This project aims to provide causal evidence of this.

Mentoring, counselling, coaching
Completed project

Completed project

Project | Teaching and learning in the time of COVID

18 February 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rapid transition to online teaching in higher education. This project explored the impact of this on student outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged students.

Online learning
Report

Report

Report | Supporting access and student success for learners with experience of children’s social care

A report summarising the findings from research assessing the evidence base on activities designed to support access and success in post-secondary education for learners with experience of children’s social care.

Access to higher education
Report

Report

Report | Understanding the impact of interventions to address inequality in the student experience

A review of the evidence for interventions that higher education providers might use to reduce inequality gaps in the student experience.

Employment and employabilityMental health and wellbeingAttainment raising
Report

Report

Report | The impact of interventions for widening access to higher education

A report on research undertaken by the Education Policy Institute on interventions aimed at widening access to higher education for the most disadvantaged students.

Access to higher education

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