A new Institute for Policy Research policy brief calls for a change to how access and participation initiatives in higher education are evaluated, arguing that current evaluation standards are out of step with the sector’s growing complexity.

Widening access and participation has been a central pillar of higher education policy in the UK for the last two decades, with higher education providers developing a range of activities to encourage degree-level study, including residential summer schools, subject tasters, application advice days and targeted on-course initiatives. The Office for Students (OfS) requires providers in England to evaluate the effectiveness of these activities, with national standards of evaluation evidence providing a benchmark to support universities and organisations offering higher education.

This new policy brief, written by Dr Joanne Moore and Annette Hayton (Department of Education), examines the types of evidence that are effective in evaluating widening participation initiatives. Working with staff in evaluation and management roles in a cross-section of higher education providers, their research captures current and emerging evaluation practices.

Their findings suggest that the current standards are increasingly unfit for purpose and could hinder rather than support strategies for widening participation and student success. The authors argue that there is an urgent need for the evaluation framework to evolve, and call for a revised set of standards to support providers in collecting and using evidence.

Dr Joanne Moore, Research and Development Officer and Teaching Fellow, said: "Standards act as a bridge between internal learning and external accountability. Applying evidence standards across the student lifecycle, coupled with complexity of applying causal designs in complex education environments, requires evolution of guidance to better support sector-wide evaluation capability building."

The authors uphold that these changes to the evaluation standards can help to increase equity and wider participation for students.

Annette Hayton, Senior Research Fellow and NERUPI Convenor, said: "Robust evidence on the most impactful activities helps to direct funds effectively and higher education providers need clarify about the range of ways to increase the usefulness and validity of the results of all types of evidence to support decision-making, as part of a proportionate approach."

The research was supported by Research England under the Policy Support Fund 2024-25 funding stream.