Contract for Impact Evaluation of the OfS APP approach

The access and participation plan (APP) is the main lever through which the OfS regulates equality of opportunity at the provider level. In the context of higher education, ‘equality of opportunity’ means that individuals are not hampered in accessing and succeeding in higher education as a result of their background or circumstances they cannot fairly influence. An APP is a strategic document that sets out how a provider will reduce the risks to equality of opportunity within their own context. The OfS wants to evaluate the long-term impact of the OfS’s APP approach and would like to appoint a single supplier to deliver a theory based evaluation. The aim of the evaluation is to understand whether the elements of the APP approach are effective in achieving change in provider behaviour and contributing to improving equality of opportunity for higher education students, from its initiation in 2018 to the 2023 reforms.