News & blog

Reflecting on progress: Lessons learned from TASO’s annual conference

by Dr Omar Khan

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.

Student mental health: Awareness and action

by Dr Omar Khan

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.

Supporting disabled students: moving the needle

by Dr Omar Khan

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.

Stay on track: Using live data as the GPS for implementation and process evaluation

by Professor Billy Wong, Director of Research and Evaluation, University of Reading and Lydia Fletcher, Research and Evaluation Manager, University of Reading

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.

Dissertation writing retreats: Strengthening curriculum and community

by Dr Julia O’Connell, Writing Skills Officer, University of Southampton | Dr Alison Daniell, Academic Skills Officer, University of Southampton

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.

New report: Supporting disabled students – mapping reasonable adjustments and transition support

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. 

Need a hand evaluating your interventions? This is the conference for you.

by Becky Ghani

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

Upcoming invitations to tender: three new projects to support student mental health and wellbeing

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 Cabinet Office to support student wellbeing

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

TASO Technical Guide 

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.