Measurements of Participation in Scottish Higher Education
The Lifelong Learning Analytical Services Unit of the Scottish Government (SG) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) are looking to improve the quality, reliability and usefulness of the statistics used to measure the level of participation shown in Higher Education (HE) by Scotland's population. As such SG/SFC are seeking to commission a piece of research to support this work.
At present a National Statistics measurement called the 'Age Participation Index' is used to measure participation in Scottish HE (final section at the link below). However there are issues with this measurement of participation, including the current exclusion of part-time learners / mature students and difficulty in making comparisons with other countries in the United Kingdom and abroad. A short-life working-group comprising of SG/SFC is to investigate measures of participation in HE with the aim of choosing an improved indicator(s) of participation.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/01091001/0
The SG/SFC short-life working group is commissioning this research to -
1. Conduct a literature review and assess current practice by other United Kingdom administrations and international countries into measurements of participation in Higher Education.
2. Consult with stakeholders on the criteria that matters most to them in the measurement and assessment of participation in Higher Education (using contact lists supplied by the working-group) and report on their responses.
3. Provide the working-group with a final report bringing together parts 1 and 2, and including a series of recommendations / practical options for how to best measure participation in HE. The working-group will then consult users and stakeholders on those options before selecting the most effective one.
Timescales
It is envisaged the successful contractor will be appointed in early December. Following this the estimated timescales for each stage of the research are outlined below -
- 1. Literature Review / Assessment of Current Practice (Mid Dec - Mid January)
- 2. Consultation with Users (Mid January - Mid February)
- 3. Production of First Draft of Final Report with Recommendations for Assessing Participation (by mid March for 1st Draft, final draft by end March)
The successful contractor will be expected to attend meetings of the SG/SFC working group throughout this work (at the start of the project and at the key stages outlined thereafter). At present 4 meetings are envisaged, shared between SFC's offices in Edinburgh and SG's in Glasgow.
The budget for this research is a maximum of £20,000 (Excluding VAT)
If you would be interested in tendering for this project, please complete the attached Expression of Interest Form (the link to the form can be found at the bottom of this page) and return to Kirstie Corbett no later than 12 noon on Thursday the 19th November 2009
( Kirstie.Corbett@scotland.gsi.gov.uk)
Please note that this Expression of Interest should not include a formulation of the research proposal at this stage. Submission of an Expression of Interest should not be taken as a guarantee for inclusion on the short list since the number of Expressions of Interest may exceed the number of contractors invited to tender for this work. All contractors who submit an EoI form will be notified of the result of the exercise.
Those contractors who are short-listed will be invited to tender for this research. Three weeks will be given for those short-listed to submit a tender.