What is it? Multi-intervention outreach combines two or more activities into an ongoing programme of support for students at different stages of their education.

Evidence? Most of the evidence for multi-intervention outreach focuses on whether students perceive that an activity has been beneficial and how it has changed their aspirations/attitudes towards higher education (HE). There is no conclusive evidence of the impact these programmes have on HE participation, particularly in the UK.

Should HE providers use multi-intervention outreach to widen participation? Evidence suggest that these programmes are likely to have a bigger impact than other approaches in isolation. However, since they tend to be large-scale, high-cost interventions, providers should seek to embed evaluation to understand whether they impact actual HE participation – see the TASO evaluation guidance for more advice on how to do this. Providers should also seek to build understanding of which elements are most effective – TASO is running a research project to help providers explore the features of successful multi-intervention outreach.

Multi-intervention outreach refers to programmes of support for students which include multiple components, such as: mentoring, counselling, coaching and role models; information, advice and guidance (IAG); summer schools, financial support, campus visits and subject tasters; and workshops. These programmes are usually large-scale, high-cost interventions, spanning a year or more and therefore support students at different life-cycle stages.

The advice on this page is based on outreach designed to address issues faced by students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups. The evidence we’ve used is drawn from studies which focus on groups including:

  • Students from lower-socioeconomic status groups
  • Black and minority ethnic (BAME) students
  • Care leavers
  • Disabled students
  • Mature students

Most of the existing evidence is focused on whether these programmes impact student aspirations/attitudes. These studies find that participating in multi-intervention outreach seems to be associated with positive outcomes for students. However, the research methods used in the studies don’t produce ‘causal evidence’. This means we can’t state with absolute certainty that multi-intervention outreach is linked to positive outcomes for students.

There are a small number of studies that look at whether multi-intervention outreach is associated with HE participation. Where a simple comparison of students who take part versus those who don’t is used, the results show a positive association. However, where methods seek to take into account selection bias (i.e. the fact that certain types of students might be more or less likely to take part in these programmes), the evidence on the efficacy of these programmes is more mixed (see the list of causal studies below).

The existing evidence focuses on the overall efficacy of these programmes, treating them as ‘black box’ interventions. Therefore, it is not possible to identify which elements of the programmes may be most effective.

Evaluations of standalone initiatives that may be incorporated in a multi-intervention outreach programme (such as summer schools, financial support, IAG and mentoring/counselling) can provide some insight, but the context of those interventions is different when they are part of a larger programme, so we must be cautious when using this evidence.

TASO is running a research project to help providers explore the features of successful multi-intervention outreach.

While the existing research tends to focus on identifying an association between participation and student outcomes, the methods used don’t allow us to conclusively state that the interventions have caused a change in students’ attitudes/aspirations. We are also lacking evidence of the impact of these activities on actual HE participation, particularly in a UK context.

Most of the existing evidence seeks to examine the effect of a bundle of components; therefore, we do not have a good understanding of which elements of multi-intervention outreach are most effective or how to optimise such programmes.

Given that these are large-scale, high-cost and resource-intensive interventions, we should expect these programmes to have a bigger impact than less intensive outreach approaches. We are only aware of one study which seeks to compare the quantitative impact of multi-intervention outreach with other approaches and finds that the impact of combined outreach and financial support is large compared to either of these approaches in isolation (Herbaut & Greven, 2019). More evidence on the relative scale of the impact of these programmes versus other approaches would help HE providers understand how best to structure their overall outreach offering.

TASO’s advice on the efficacy of multi-intervention outreach in widening participation is based on evidence from four causal studies, one of which took place in the UK.

This advice is also supported by 14 empirical studies which use data to show that participation in these programmes seems to be associated with positive student outcomes. Of these studies, 13 took place in the UK, including three evaluation reports shared confidentially by HE providers with TASO.  The advice is supported by three reviews.

We have focused on evidence produced in the last 10 years and, in the case of UK-based evidence, since the student finance reforms were introduced in 2012. Older evidence has been included if is exceptionally relevant.

Some key references are given below.

Causal studies on the impact of multi-intervention outreach

Bergin, D. A., Cooks, H. C., & Bergin, C. C. (2007). Effects of a college access program for youth underrepresented in higher education: A randomized experiment. Research in Higher Education

Bowman, N. A., Kim, S., Ingleby, L., Ford, D. C., & Sibaouih, C. (2018). Improving College Access at Low-Income High Schools? The Impact of GEAR UP Iowa on Postsecondary Enrollment and Persistence. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(3), 399-419.

Emmerson, C., Frayne, C., McNally, S. & Silva, O. (2006). Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge: A policy evaluation using the Labour Force Survey. Department for Education and Skills, Research Report RR813.

Page, L. C., Kehoe, S. S., Castleman, B. L., & Sahadewo, G. A. (2017). More than dollars for scholars: The impact of the Dell Scholars Program on college access, persistence and degree attainment. Journal of Human Resources, 0516-7935r1.

 

Other selected references

Chilosi, D., Noble, M., Broadhead, P. & Wilkinson, M. (2010). Measuring the effect of Aimhigher on schooling attainment and entries. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 34(1): 1-10.

Emmerson, C., Frayne, C., McNally, S. & Silva, O. (2005). Evaluation of Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge, The early impact of Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge on pre-16 outcomes: An economic evaluation. Department for Education and Skills, Research Report RR652.

Hatt, S., Baxter, A. & Tate, J. (2007). Measuring progress: an evaluative study of Aimhigher South West 2003-2006. Higher Education Quarterly, 61(3): 284-305.

Kettlewell, K. and Aston, H. (2012). Realising Opportunities Evaluation: Cohort 2 Final Report – July 2012. Slough: NFER.

Kettlewell, K. and Aston, H. (2014). Realising Opportunities Evaluation: Cohort 4 Final Report – July 2012. Slough: NFER.

Lamont, E., Kettlewell, K. and Aston, H. (2014). Realising Opportunities Evaluation: Cohort 1 Final Report – July 2011. Slough: NFER

Mazzoli Smith, L. and Laing, K. (2015) Supporting the Progression of Looked After Young People to University: Evaluation of the Choices Together Programme. Newcastle: Research Centre for Learning and Teaching, Newcastle University.

Morris, M. & Rutt, S. (2005). Evaluation of Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge, Aspirations to higher education: One year on. Department for Education and Skills, Research Report RR651.

Morris, M. , Rutt, S., & Mehta, P. (2009). The longer term impact of Aimhigher: Tracking individuals. National Foundation for Educational Research.

Pluhta, E. A., & Penny, G. R. (2013). The effect of a community college promise scholarship on access and success. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 37(10), 723-734.

Simms, K., (2015) The ‘Heads Up’ Scheme Evaluation Outcomes, University of Sheffield

Thompson et al (2017), The Impact of a Widening Participation (WP) Scheme on the Learning Experience of Medical Students: A Pilot Study, Widening Participation Research and Evaluation Unit

Williams, M., Mellors-Bourne, R. (2019), Improving access for the most able but least likely: Evaluation of the Realising Opportunities programme, Institute for Employment Studies

 

Literature reviews

Herbaut, E., & Geven, K. M. (2019). What Works to Reduce Inequalities in Higher Education? A Systematic Review of the (Quasi-) Experimental Literature on Outreach and Financial Aid (No. 8802). The World Bank

Moore, J., Sanders, J., & Higham, L. (2013). Literature review of research into widening participation to higher education. Report to HEFCE and OFFA. AimHigher Research & Consultancy Network.

Younger, K., Gascoine, L., Menzies, V., & Torgerson, C. (2018). A systematic review of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions and strategies for widening participation in higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1-32.