Students sitting at a desk writing.

Following an open call in the summer, six higher education (HE) providers have been selected to work on a TASO project that will develop Theories of Change and evaluation plans for interventions designed to tackle the ethnicity degree awarding gap.

This gap refers to the significant difference in the proportions of students from marginalised ethnic backgrounds being awarded a first or upper-second class undergraduate degree when compared to White students.The following six HE providers will work closely with Staffordshire University and Advance HE who have been jointly appointed as the independent evaluator on the project:

  • Birmingham City University
  • Loughborough University
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • University of Law
  • University of Southampton
  • University of York

The project stems from findings from our recently published report which analysed Access and Participation Plans (APPs) to understand the current landscape of interventions being delivered in the HE sector to tackle the ethnicity degree awarding gap.

The report found that interventions tended to be inadequately detailed – it was unclear how the intervention would ultimately lead to a reduction in the gap – and therefore recommends that providers develop robust Theories of Change with clearly articulated mechanisms that link activities to desired outcomes.

Theories of Change will be developed for a wide range of multifaceted interventions being delivered by the partner HE providers, which involve:

  • Adapting assessment practice
  • Developing curricula
  • Financial support
  • Harnessing student voice
  • Peer mentoring
  • Placement and careers support
  • Skills development
  • Using learner analytics

TASO aims to publish these Theories of Change and evaluation plans as prototypes for the sector to use in Spring 2024.

Read our report: Approaches to addressing the ethnicity degree awarding gap