Projects

At TASO, we run a range of research and evaluation projects, on topics ranging from summer schools and data analytics, to small cohort methodologies and what works to reduce the ethnicity degree-awarding gap.

TASO projects

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Project

Project | Challenging perceptions: letters to pupils from deprived areas, encouraging them to consider university

25 September 2025

TASO is working with King’s College London on a joint initiative to encourage pupils from deprived areas to try university.

Low-income backgroundsAccess to higher educationMentoring, counselling, coachingTransition into higher education
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Project | Higher Education Evaluation Library (HEEL)

5 June 2025

The upcoming HEEL will be an online, freely accessible, searchable database of evaluations focused on access, success and progression interventions.
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Project | Developing theories of change for whole-provider approaches

12 May 2025

TASO is working with six higher education providers to develop theories of change for their whole-provider approaches to reducing equality gaps in higher education, in collaboration with Professor Liz Thomas, Professor of Higher Education at the University of York.

Success in higher education
Project

Project | Randomised controlled trials to evaluate wellbeing interventions prompted by analytics

21 November 2024

TASO is working with three universities to participate in a project that will evaluate their student mental health and wellbeing interventions (prompted by analytics).

Mental health and wellbeingSuccess in higher educationLearning analytics
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Project | Evaluation of mental health and wellbeing interventions with small cohorts

20 November 2024

TASO is working with two universities to participate in a project that will evaluate student mental health and wellbeing interventions they deliver to small cohorts.

Mental health and wellbeingSuccess in higher education
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Project | Using quasi-experimental designs to evaluate mental health and wellbeing interventions

22 October 2024

TASO is working with three higher education providers to participate in a project that will evaluate their student mental health and wellbeing interventions using quasi-experimental designs.

Mental health and wellbeingSuccess in higher education
Project

Project | Institutional data use (IDU)

23 September 2024

A project to help the higher education sector use institutional data to generate evidence about which initiatives are effective in supporting student success and reducing equality gaps.

Institutional dataSuccess in higher education
Project

Project | Education pathways: Equality gaps in earnings and employment

16 July 2024

To better understand the various benefits of higher education, this project examined the link between educational qualifications and earnings and employment, in particular for disadvantaged young people.

Employment and employabilityProgression out of higher education
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Project | Supporting disabled students: a blueprint for transition support

6 June 2024

Find out more about our blueprint for multi-intervention transition support. The blueprint provides a set of evidence-informed activities and programmes to enhance disabled students’ transition into higher education.

Disabled studentsSuccess in higher education
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Project | Supporting disabled students: Mapping reasonable adjustments and transition support

11 April 2024

By mapping the kinds of transition support and reasonable adjustments used in higher education, this project increased understanding of the existing evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions

Disabled studentsSuccess in higher education
Project

Project | Theory of change to tackle ethnicity degree awarding gaps

13 March 2024

In 2023-24, we commissioned Staffordshire University and Advance HE to produce theories of change and evaluation plans for interventions designed to address the ethnicity degree awarding gap.

Race and ethnicitySuccess in higher education
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Project | Learning about evaluation with small cohorts: pilots to test the methodologies

10 December 2023

Higher education providers face challenges when evaluating interventions that have small sample sizes. This project involved the piloting of evaluation methodologies that are suitable for small cohorts.

Small cohorts
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Project | Piloting methods to develop better evidence on student support

9 November 2023

A project exploring what works reduce equality gaps for disabled students in higher education, and how to improve employment and employability outcomes.

Disabled studentsEmployment and employabilitySuccess in higher education
Project

Project | Student mental health

15 October 2023

A range of open access digital resources to help the higher education sector improve support for student mental health

Mental health and wellbeingSuccess in higher education
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Project | Approaches to addressing the ethnicity degree awarding gap

9 June 2023

A project to develop a typology and narrative of current approaches to address the ethnicity degree awarding gap.

Race and ethnicitySuccess in higher education
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Project | Theories of change for attainment-raising initiatives

13 April 2023

To help higher education providers do more to raise the academic attainment of school students, this project involved the development of six theories of change for pre-16 attainment-raising initiatives.

Attainment raisingAccess to higher education
Project

Project | Learning analytics

31 January 2023

Interventions that are prompted by data from university infrastructure systems are believed to be effective in improving engagement. This project aims to build a strong evidence base for these interventions.

Learning analyticsSuccess in higher education
Project

Project | The impact of curriculum reform on the ethnicity degree awarding gap

23 November 2022

We worked with two universities to establish whether reforming the curriculum to make it more diverse would reduce the ethnicity degree awarding gap

Race and ethnicitySuccess in higher education
Project

Project | What works to reduce equality gaps in employment and employability?

21 April 2022

This project explored how education providers can improve labour market outcomes for graduates from disadvantaged groups and address gaps in the participation in sandwich courses.

Employment and employabilityProgression out of higher education
Project

Project | Economic value of higher education

17 February 2022

To better understand the various benefits of higher education, this research examined the individual and societal impacts of disadvantaged young people graduating from higher education courses.

Employment and employabilityProgression out of higher education
Project

Project | What works to reduce equality gaps for disabled students

17 February 2022

This project aims to help higher education providers support their disabled students more effectively and address inequalities in their experience of higher education.

Disabled studentsSuccess in higher education
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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 wellbeingSuccess in higher education
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 schoolsAccess to higher education
Project

Project | Multi-intervention outreach and mentoring (MIOM)

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, coachingAccess to higher education
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 learningSuccess in higher education

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Projects

Higher Education Evaluation Library (HEEL)

TASO projects