New project: guidance on economic evaluation in HE

There are a variety of evaluation approaches relevant to our work in higher education. TASO has published various evaluation reports, resources and tools on impact evaluation (IE) and implementation and process evaluation (IPE) to foster better evaluation practices.

Economic evaluation is another approach that seeks to provide stakeholders with information for deciding how to allocate resources. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is one method of economic evaluation that measures and compares the values of an intervention’s outcomes (benefits) relative to the cost of the intervention. For example, CBA could provide information about the extent to which an intervention increases a student’s future earning potential for every pound spent on the intervention. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding about how  to conduct economic evaluation rigorously and consistently within higher education (HE).

TASO’s objective for this project is to develop and publish tools and guidance for conducting economic evaluation in HE. The aims are:

• To support the HE sector to better understand and conduct economic evaluation.
• To understand how economic evaluation has been calculated for existing interventions in the HE and other disciplines.
• To encourage practitioners and evaluators in the HE sector to conduct economic evaluation using the tool and guidance developed in this project.

Our new project with RSM UK will involve engagement with stakeholders from the higher education sector to inform the development of an accessible suite of evaluation tools including a framework for conducting economic evaluation and templates for completing economic evaluation protocols and reports.

Dave Innes, Associate Director at RSM UK:

“The Social Policy team at RSM UK are delighted to be working with TASO to design economic evaluation guidance and tools for the HE sector. We will combine an understanding of the needs of the HE sector with our experience of conducting economic evaluations across sectors and contexts. The current unmet need for guidance in the sector creates an opportunity for this project to catalyse high quality economic evaluation that underpins decision-making in the sector.”

The first stage of the project involves a short survey to explore how the sector is currently using economic evaluation methods and gather information on what the sector would like this new guidance to include. We would like to hear from colleagues who:

• Work for a higher education provider or sector organisation working to support equality in higher education
• Hold a position with a remit to conduct evaluation and support fairer access to higher education (undergraduate or postgraduate) and fairer student outcomes

This survey is now closed. 

RSM UK was selected after an open call for suppliers in the summer of 2023.

The results of this project will be available in Spring 2024.