News and blog

TASO’s fourth annual conference last week was jam-packed, filled with panel discussions, practical breakout sessions and exclusive looks at our latest evaluation guidance to help delegates craft effective evaluations. Dr Omar Khan, CEO at TASO reflects on the conference and the progress we and the sector have made in the past four years.

For Mental Health Awareness Week, Dr Omar Khan, CEO at TASO, discusses how TASO plans to merge awareness with action to enhance support for student mental health and to create a proactive culture of wellbeing in higher education.

TASO CEO Dr Omar Khan discusses our recent research on reasonable adjustments and transition support for disabled students, and the importance of using evidence to move the needle on fair access to education for all.

As we finalise new guidance to support the sector in conducting better and more consistent implementation and process evaluation (IPE), we hear from colleagues Billy Wong and Lydia Fletcher, at the University of Reading, on how IPE can help us understand the journey to change, not just the final destination and outcomes.

Dr Julia O’Connell and Dr Alison Daniell discuss their development of a dissertation writing retreat programme at the University of Southampton. The programme aims to address the awarding gap by empowering Black students to excel in one of the most important aspects of their degree, while also providing them with a space to engage positively with their peers and the wider university community.

TASO is seeking to appoint up to three higher education providers to work with an independent evaluator to test the impact of mental health and wellbeing interventions through quasi-experimental methods.

Do you work for a higher education provider that is currently using analytics to inform support for student wellbeing and mental health? Are you interested in participating in a randomised controlled trial? Apply below to be involved in an exciting upcoming TASO project.

Today, TASO has published a new report on the implementation of transition support and reasonable adjustments for disabled students in higher education. The report examines the experiences of a broad range of disabled students and higher education staff. To inform the report, TASO commissioned Advance HE to map the types of support available in these two key areas. 

TASO Annual Conference, ‘How to Evaluate’, Nottingham on 7–8 May

We will soon be publishing three new invitations to tender for projects evaluating student mental health interventions and inviting applications from higher education providers.

TASO awarded funding from the Evaluation Accelerator Fund for a new project on student wellbeing.

Today, TASO has launched its Technical Guide (an expansion on the data visualisation style guide). We built this resource to empower TASO staff, partners and the broader higher education sector with the skills to create engaging charts and enhance code readability and shareability.