Understanding the evaluation of outreach interventions to widen access to higher education for under 16 year olds in England from disadvantaged backgrounds

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) wish to place a contract for a Principal Investigator to undertake research activities to understand the intended outcomes and evaluation approaches of outreach interventions to widen access to higher education for under 16 year olds in England from disadvantaged backgrounds. Research activities are expected to include: Field research with key sector stakeholders Analysis of historical OFFA access agreement and monitoring data Assessment of common evaluation tools, methods and metrics currently in use Interim reporting of findings (document or presentation) Participation at steering group meetings Final written report of findings and recommendations Phase one of this project is time sensitive and the final outputs will need to be submitted to OFFA by March 2018. The long term goal of this multi-phase project is to improve the evaluation and ultimately the impact of outreach interventions to widen access to higher education for under 16 year olds in England from disadvantaged backgrounds. Based on the outcomes of phase one (which this tender document refers to), we aim to commission a second phase to review existing research and literature to consolidate evidence concerning the relationship between interim outcomes and impact (widening participation to higher education). The procurement process will be managed by HEFCE