Project
Project | Higher Education Evaluation Library (HEEL)
5 September 2026
About the HEEL
The HEEL will be a repository of evaluations of interventions designed to address equality gaps in higher education in England.
By enabling providers to share their evaluation plans and findings, the HEEL will support knowledge exchange, foster collaboration, and support the dissemination of evaluation evidence on what works to reduce inequalities in higher education. It will also help identify trends in evaluation practice across the sector.
The HEEL comprises:
- a submission portal, hosted by the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT) – a form allowing users to submit their evaluations
- the HEEL database – a searchable library of the submitted evaluations – publication planned for 2026.
Submit your evaluations
You can now submit your evaluations whether or not you are a HEAT member.
Launch phases
There are three phases to the form and resource launch:
Phase 1: Spring 2026
The submission portal element is now live to HEAT members only (from December 2025), via the HEAT system. Phase 1 allows HEAT members to prepare and save submissions in the system, but cannot yet submit or publish.
Phase 2: September 2026
The submission portal element is now open to non-HEAT members, and all providers can now submit their evaluations.
Please submit your evaluations ready for the launch of the main database.
Phase 3: November 2026
The HEEL resource – the searchable database – will go live, and will include all submitted evaluations.
Please also sign up to our newsletter for updates.
Digests and analysis
Once the HEEL is established, TASO will produce regular HEEL digests – short summaries that highlight key trends, patterns, and descriptive data from the evaluations submitted. These digests will be available through both the HEEL and TASO websites.
We are planning to use the evidence submitted to the HEEL to inform our work, including updates of our evidence toolkits. These toolkits summarise and appraise the findings from existing evidence on approaches to widening participation and student success for disadvantaged and underrepresented groups.
HEEL webinar
Watch our consultation webinar where we provided an overview of the development of the HEEL.
Query form: ask questions and send feedback
Please use this this form to send us feedback and ask questions.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Inclusion criteria
- At what stage of the evaluation process can submissions be made to the HEEL?
At any stage. The HEEL will allow submissions of evaluation plans, as well as evaluations at interim finding and final reporting stage, with the expectation that these will be updated. All new documentation that is updated will be part of the same submission, and therefore linked.
- Will we need ethics approval?
You do not need ethical approval for submission to the HEEL, but you must state whether you sought approval or not.
There will be an option to describe the status of your evaluation, whether it has ethics approval, blanket approval or none. Those submitting to the HEEL should ensure that their submissions have appropriate ethical approval for publication and this will vary by institution. TASO provides guidance and resources on ethics for evaluation which can inform institutional practice.
- What if evaluation projects get cancelled or have null and negative results?
We strongly encourage publishing null and negative results and providing contextual information on your findings to promote shared learning in the sector.
There will be an option to update the status of your evaluation and your submission will remain in the HEEL even if the project ends before a final report is produced. We encourage the sharing of evaluation plans so that others can learn from these documents even if plans are not executed.
Submission process
- Who can submit an evaluation to the HEEL?
Anyone with a HEAT account will be able to submit an evaluation to the HEEL. Submitters must have approval to publish via their organisation.
Currently (February 2026), only HEAT members can login and save their submissions. Non-HEAT members will have access later in 2026.
Any organisations working in the higher education sector, and who register for a HEAT account, will be able to submit evaluations. This includes higher education providers, third sector organisations and public and private sector bodies.
Please provide an email address or that will be available long-term (for example, a departmental email address) .
- How will partnership working be recorded?
There will be an option to name partners on a submission and to indicate whether they are, for instance, a third sector partner or another higher education provider. Named partners will not be able to view or approve a submission form, although they will be able to see the final submission on the HEEL. We suggest that those submitting to the HEEL agree the form of submissions with partners prior to completing the submission form.
- Will submitting to the HEEL conflict with submitting to academic journals?
The HEEL aims to collect a wide variety of evaluations, many of which would not be published in academic journals. However some providers may wish to submit their reports both to the HEEL and to a journal. In the first instance, it is worth checking the journal’s guidelines as some allow ‘pre-prints’ or ‘working papers’ to be shared prior to formal peer review and academic publication.
If the journal stipulates that submissions are not published elsewhere, evaluators and providers may need to wait until a journal article is published, after which they can provide a DOI link in the HEEL.
- How will you ensure the quality and consistency of the submissions?
The HEEL is a library bringing together evaluations of existing practice, without quality thresholds or judgements. There will be no peer review process or quality review and TASO will not provide feedback.
There will be mandatory fields to ensure consistency and adequate information from each evaluation.
Separate to the HEEL, there will be an appraisal process for evaluations that inform the TASO toolkits. This appraisal process will be clearly outlined on the TASO website.
Support and guidance
- Who do we go to with questions and troubleshooting?
TASO will answer questions about evaluation, and HEAT will answer questions about technical issues. Details of how to ask for help will be available on launch.
- Will we get feedback?
If you would like feedback and advice on your evaluations you can contact TASO directly either with particular questions or to engage in TASO’s bespoke training.