Evaluation and reports

Evaluation is the process of systematically examining something to understand how well it is working and whether it is achieving what it set out to do. 

In access and participation work, evaluation can help us to be more confident about which activities help to remove barriers for students, from application through to success at university and in finding employment.

At Reading, we are committed to carrying out high-quality evaluations so that we can better evidence and understand the difference our work is making.

You can read evaluation reports from activities in our current APP, sorted by academic year. You can also read reflection and evaluation reports from activities in the previous APP (2020-25).

As detailed in the latest Access and Participation Plan (APP) 2024-28, our evaluation strategy is underpinned by our commitment to build capacity and expertise among staff and colleagues engaged in these activities. 

We have established an Access and Participation Evaluation Subcommittee to review, discuss, critique and support the evaluation planning and reporting of activities contributing to our five key objectives in the APP. 

We have an internal APP Evaluation Hub Teams channel, where resources are curated and shared. This includes training materials, publications and reports from organisations such as the Network for Evaluating and Researching University Participation Interventions (NERUPI), the Office for Students (OfS) and Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO). We offer tailored consultation and support, including an evaluation chatbot. 

The APP evaluation team works closely with individual activity and intervention strategy leads to review, reflect on and refine approaches to evaluation in their respective contexts.

All activities in our APP intervention strategies have clear outcomes and indicators of success. We intend to trial the pre-registration of evaluation plans and publish the reports of these evaluation here in due time. 

Check out our Evaluation Blog, where you can read more informal content, such as report summaries and perspectives from colleagues working on evaluations. If you would like to contribute something to the blog, please contact Lydia Fletcher.

Professor Billy Wong, Director of Research and Evaluation (Access and Participation)

Email: b.wong@reading.ac.uk

Lydia Fletcher, Research and Evaluation Manager (Access and Participation)

Email: lydia.fletcher@reading.ac.uk