Ipsos | Formative Evaluation of Uni Connect Phase Three
2 people to access and succeed in higher education , and significantly expanding the evidence base on access and participation to understand what works .
Following this , the OfS notified Uni Connect partnerships that they would be given an expanded role to support increased strategic school engagement by universities and other higher education providers to raise attainment . During 2022-23 , partnerships were expected to develop evidence-based collaborative approaches to raising attainment at Key Stage 3 and into and through Key Stage 4 in local state secondary schools , drawing on the expertise and resources of local universities . Partnerships were expected to develop their collaborative approaches to attainment raising during 2022-23 with a view to starting delivery of these from 2023-24 .
Evaluation Approach The formative evaluation focused on Uni Connect programme activity delivered during 2022-23 . Data gathering for the evaluation was undertaken between May and December 2022 and incorporated :
▪ A desk review of Uni Connect phase three programme documentation .
▪ Scoping interviews with key stakeholders from the OfS involved in programme design / delivery .
▪ Attendance and presentation at three Uni Connect partnership events .
▪ Development of a Theory of Change for phase three of the programme .
▪ 39 in-depth interviews conducted between October and December 2022 , of which 29 were with Uni Connect partnership leads and 10 with local stakeholders .
▪ A workshop with partnership leads in December 2022 .
Key Findings : Targeted Outreach In phase three , Uni Connect partnerships were expected to continue to provide sustained and progressive targeted outreach to support learners to make well-informed decisions about their future education and to reduce gaps in higher education participation for the least represented groups . However , from 2022-23 onwards , partnerships were not expected to actively recruit any new targeted outreach learners to the programme and to focus their activities on those who had previously been engaged . This meant that no new Year 9 learners would be recruited to targeted outreach in 2022-23 and the focus would be on supporting existing targeted outreach learners in Years 10 to 13 . This element of the programme will be phased out over the subsequent four years as the cohort of existing target outreach learners progress beyond Year 13 .
A range of approaches were being taken by partnerships to manage the reduction and phasing out of the targeted outreach element of the programme . These included reducing the number of schools and colleges they were working with based on an assessment of need and previous levels of engagement with the programme . Most had also reduced the number and / or range of activities they were offering by shifting from a tailored package of support to a more standardised offer or focusing on activities with the lowest cost to delivery and / or where there was most evidence of impact .
Several partnerships had cut back or completely stopped using external partners to deliver targeted outreach activities to reduce delivery costs and enable them to retain their existing staffing infrastructure .
22-025200-01 | Version 1 | Public | This work was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the international quality standard for Market Research , ISO 20252 , and with the Ipsos Terms and Conditions which can be found at https :// ipsos . uk / terms . © Office for Students 2023