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Effective transition support is crucial in enabling students to integrate and to develop a sense of belonging.

Disabled students continue to face challenges during their journey into, through and beyond higher education, despite the positive changes in supportive legislation, funding and enhanced provision.

While disabled students may have already developed an extensive set of organisation, self-management and resilience skills, they may have more difficult study trajectories, experience less satisfaction with their experience and worse education and employment outcomes in comparison to other students. 

To strengthen the support that higher education providers (HEPs) give to disabled students during their transition into higher education, TASO commissioned RSM UK to work with three HEPs to develop a blueprint for transition support. ‘Supporting disabled students: A blueprint for multi-intervention transition support’ provides a set of evidence-informed activities and programmes to enhance disabled students’ transition.

Supporting disabled students: A blueprint for multi-intervention transition support

This blueprint offers an overview of a series of activities: seven targeted at disabled students, and one at staff. We recommend that providers use this blueprint to start to plan their work, in conjunction with the accompanying guidance. For a more detailed overview of the blueprint, see the Enhanced Theory of Change for multi-intervention transition support.

Theories of change and reports: examples from universities and colleges

The providers we worked with also developed Enhanced Theories of Change, which will support the sector to better understand and evaluate their interventions. The providers’ reports and Enhanced Theories of Change are below. If you would like any of the content in a different format, please contact us.

A tailored approach to selecting transition-support activities

The goal is to enable HEPs to employ a tailored approach to selecting a suitable activity, or combination of activities, to support their students. The activities should be developed using a co-creation approach that involves collaborating with key stakeholders (students, staff, and allied professionals) in designing and implementing transition-support activities. The blueprint focuses on early transition into higher educatin, but its insights might be relevant for other kinds of course transition.

Implementing the blueprint will enable HEPs to create inclusive learning environments and practices. It will help staff support disabled students’ transition into higher education. Disabled students can benefit, in particular, through:

  1. improved satisfaction with the HE experience
  2. increased retention and completion in HE, as well as more successful progression into further education and/or employment. and completion of HE
  3. improved self-determination, wellbeing and confidence to succeed in HE.

The blueprint section provides guidance and recommendations on how to use the resources in order for HEPs to strengthen their transition support.