Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education

The new Higher Education Evaluation Library (HEEL) will support the sharing of evidence and evaluation in relation to equality of opportunity in higher education.

We’re funding TASO to establish the library as part of a renewed grant.

Aims

There is currently limited sharing of access and participation evaluation, particularly from higher education providers. Therefore, as part of our existing £1.5m grant, TASO is expanding its functions to establish a library where evaluations (interim and final) can be submitted and accessed by the sector.

The funding for the library aims to:

• build a greater understanding of activity and practice across the student lifecycle
• support enhanced skills and capability to develop and use evidence
• provide opportunities for learning and sharing knowledge of different activities and evaluation approaches.

Who can use the library?

Everyone in the sector will be able to access and submit to the library as long as the submission meets TASO’s submission criteria. TASO will publish these criteria when the library is launched.

When providers commit to sharing evaluation findings as part of their access and participation plans, we encourage them to submit to the library as part of their dissemination approach.

How will the library work?

We see the library as a place for the sector to engage in the sharing and learning from robust evaluation relating to equality of opportunity in higher education. Organisations can submit their findings on a rolling basis, search for other findings relating to specific topics or groups, and learn from the experience of others. Over time, TASO will summarise findings from the library and provide thematic overviews of evidence that will support the sector to improve the impact of its equality of opportunity activities by drawing on the best evidence.

The HEEL will consist of a structured submission portal and a publicly accessible, searchable database of evaluations relating to access, success and progression in higher education. Submissions will be made through a standardised form, enabling consistent capture of key information such as aims, methods, outcomes and theories of change.

The library will complement TASO’s evidence toolkit and will support its other work to develop high quality guidance, resources and research.

Timeline

The HEEL is being delivered in phases. A submission portal, hosted via the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT), was launched in December 2025 for HEAT members. Sector wide access to the submission portal and the publication of the searchable HEEL database are expected later in 2026.