Data from the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT) has shown that The Scholars Programme has an impact on GCSE attainment. Students who did The Scholars Programme in Year 7, 8, 9 or 10 were more likely to achieve a 9-5 in maths and English than students who scored similarly at Key Stage 2 within their schools. Read about our findings in more detail in our research note.
Each year we commission UCAS to run an independent evaluation of our flagship access programme, The Scholars Programme, to understand the impact on progression to higher education. To date, we have conducted nine matched control group evaluations.
Our latest evaluation found that Year 12 students who complete The Scholars Programme are statistically significantly more likely to apply to and receive an offer from a competitive university than students from similar backgrounds. As a result, they also progress to a competitive university at a higher rate.
Access all our previous UCAS evaluations via the drop-down list below.
Before taking part in the Scholars Programme, I'd completely ruled out the top of the top universities as I didn't think I could get into them, but at my graduation when I got to see the university, I realised that I could get into any place I wanted to if I tried hard enough and it really opened up the options that I had given myself.
Our vision is a society where every child has a fair chance to unlock their brilliance, regardless of where or how they grow up, and where positions of influence are open to everyone, not just the most advantaged.
Our Theory of Change sets out how we turn this vision into reality. It outlines the ways in which we are tackling the barriers that exist and how we support less advantaged young people to access and thrive at leading universities by working in partnership with PhD researchers, schools, parents, and the wider education sector.
A living and evolving framework, our Theory of Change underpins our Backing Brilliance 2026–2029 strategy. It has been designed to guide our work, inform our decisions, and help us measure and strengthen our impact over time. We are committed to maintaining a clear and consistent focus on our outcomes and to measuring the impact of our activities and programmes.
We have also created Theories of Change for each of our core programmes, The Scholars Programme and Parent Power.
The Scholars Programme improves educational and economic outcomes for students from less advantaged backgrounds by increasing access to more competitive universities. Whilst we have known for a long time that going to university increases earning potential, research published by TASO in 2024 shows that this potential is most pronounced when we factor in how competitive a university is. Graduating from a more competitive university, compared to a less competitive one, has a bigger impact on a graduate’s earning potential than the difference between going to a less competitive university versus not going to university at all.
We have conducted an economic evaluation that combines our observed progression rates to more competitive universities with TASO’s research to estimate the programme’s economic benefits. The evaluation shows:
Between 2018 and 2020, we commissioned researchers at the University of Cambridge to evaluate the impact of The Scholars Programme. The evaluation had two phases. Firstly, the University of Cambridge carried out a desk-based review of the charity’s research and impact work to date. Secondly, the University of Cambridge conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the impact of The Scholars Programme on pupils’ cognitive outcomes. You can find out more about the RCT, including the results, here. The results from the RCT will also be published in a peer reviewed journal in the future.
