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CloseWhy Join HEAT?
We welcome enquires from organisations wishing to evaluate and operationalise their work towards ensuring opportunity in education.
- About Us
- Why Join HEAT?
Interested in joining HEAT? Learn more about how our System and Service can support your organisation’s evaluation and operational requirements.
Evidence impact
HEAT helps members to answer the following questions:
- How effectively are we targeting activities towards those learners who need them most?
- Are the students and schools we are working with also working with other organisations?
- To what extent do the outreach activities we are delivering in schools have an impact on students’ attainment at Key Stage 4 or Key Stage 5?
- What proportion of the students we engage in outreach activities go on to progress to Higher Education?
- What is the Higher Education progression rate of outreach participants (compared to their peers)?
- Which Higher Education Providers do these students enter, and which subjects do they study?
- Are the students we work with entering a Degree level Apprenticeship?
- Which activities have the biggest impact on progression rates?
- What distance do our participants travel to get to Higher Education?
- How do our outreach participants perform in Higher Education?
- What are the destinations of students, post Higher Education?
Benefit from cost-effective evaluation and tracking solutions
HEAT’s collaborative evaluation model provides significant savings through economies of scale. Our value for money analysis (member’s only), which was approved by HEAT’s Governance and Steering Groups, calculates the cost savings to members of accessing a system, data and tools for evaluation through the HEAT Service, rather than independently.
- It is estimated that it would cost an organisation almost £80,000 to independently produce what they receive through the HEAT Service. This is a conservative estimate
- Tracking costs alone, to obtain students’ attainment and progression outcomes, would cost a member more than the HEAT subscription fee to obtain independently
- This provides Core HEAT members with an estimated 900% return on their investment, receiving approximately £9 of value in return for every £1 spent on their HEAT subscription
Allow your data and results to count nationally
Subscribers to HEAT receive the tracking results for their activity participants but their data is also added to the aggregate member dataset which provides a powerful, rich set for interrogation.
These results are shared with all members who benefit from the rigor of analysis undertaken with a significantly larger dataset where we can break down cohorts into a variety of intersections and provide important context to the results. The resulting aggregate reports are also shared publicly and circulated to colleagues in the Office of Students and the Department of Education.
Evaluate impact on enrolled Students
We have worked to collect data centrally on our collaborative database since 2014, allowing us to provide sector-wide research focused on helping our members to record, monitor and evaluate access interventions on their behalf. Our members have asked us to extend this research excellence into post-entry, and use the unique benefit of our collective data and resources to evaluate the Activities delivered to enrolled students.
The reporting tools and features on our system support this research focus, and allows members a flexible approach to record and monitor their post-entry activity and student data. Working together with TASO, we support our members to evaluate those activities delivered to enrolled students, which can encompass a wide range of interventions that impact the student’s higher education experience.
For more information about our post-entry work, read our Research Blog.
Be part of the collective
We are a membership organisation – the Service is paid for and directed by the collective of subscribers, who make decisions about the Service offer. Not only do we ask that you buy into the membership through subscription, but also the concept of contributing to the development of HEAT.
Develop and Deliver Access and Participation Plans
The HEAT System supports members to develop, deliver and report on their Access and Participation Plans (APPs). The tools and datasets we offer support all stages of the work Providers must do for their APPs, from evaluation planning, to recording the data that underpins monitoring and evaluation, to providing the outcomes for that evaluation and to report progress towards APP targets. When embedded within your organisation, we can support you with all stages of your APP reporting.
As the Office for Students (OfS) have focused on significantly increasing the “volume and quality of evaluation”, we have responded to this challenge by considering how this relates to the planning of evaluation. Providers must submit detailed Plans for each Intervention Strategy including a theory of change linked to interim and longer-term outcomes, as well as information on how each outcome will be monitored and evaluated, including details on the methodologies. Learn more about how our system provides the tools to meet these requirements.
Using HEAT to Evaluate your Access and Participation Plan
How HEAT can support you to manage and evaluate your APP Activities and meet the regulatory guidance recommended by the Office for Students.
For any prospective organisations interested in joining, there are some key points that we encourage you to consider.
Optimise your use of the HEAT System
To ensure you get the most out of the system and optimise your use of HEAT, you will need resource in your organisation. You will need staff resource to lead on your organisation’s use of HEAT: to configure the system, manage users, undertake internal training, populate the system with data, attend working groups (optional but recommended), run reports, receive and circulate information to your wider team and contribute feedback to any development in the pipeline.
Get the most from the HEAT Service
Many members use HEAT to access tracking data for their outreach cohort, which is undoubtedly a significant benefit of the subscription, but there are numerous other outputs and features that may add value to your organisation. There is a direct correlation between the staff resource you allocate to HEAT and the added value you get from it.
We operate on an equal pay, equal say basis. Core members are paying the same subscription regardless of level of engagement in the Service. Typically, only very small outreach providers join on alternative subscription models, which are tailored to suit their needs.
If you are joining HEAT purely for the tracking results, you need to think about whether you are getting a good return on your subscription. We know from experience, that members who engage fully with HEAT are getting better value for money.
Member Eligibility
There are various different Membership Types, details of which can be found in our list of members.
Please note: We aim to offer an equal data service to non-English universities but this requires negotiating access to administrative datasets in devolved governments (which is an ongoing process). We encourage any non-English universities interested in joining HEAT to make contact so we can keep you updated.
Membership Flowchart
The membership flow chart provides the basics of our process for deciding the eligibility of an organisation to join the three main types: Core, Affiliate and Associate.
The online application form asks prospective members to set out why they wish to join HEAT and to justify any application which sits outside of the eligibility criteria (if applicable). Our Membership Application Panel make decisions on any prospective member applications to ensure that all members fit the ethos of HEAT.
Next Steps
If you are interested in joining our community, or would like some more information about how we can support your organisation, we would love to hear from you. Before this, we encourage you to consider the following:
Is HEAT right for your organisation?
- Think about what your organisation needs for evaluation and which parts of the Service you would use to Plan, Target, Record and Monitor and Analyse the Impact of your delivery
- Do you need a system to link your evaluation plans to actual data on delivery to ensure they are implemented as intended?
- Do you need comprehensive data on schools and colleges to inform your targeting?
- Do you need a system to record and monitor the activities you are delivering and the students who attend them?
- Which outcomes do you need to access to evidence impact?
Consider the membership options
- Visit Our Members and read about the different membership types
- Consider which membership type you would potentially be eligible for
Explore the HEAT DEMO Database
- Let us know if you would like to be added so you can have a look around
Applying for HEAT
When you are ready to learn more, please email HEAT Support to ask for a Prospective Member Information Pack, which we would be delighted to provide. This pack includes details on the Subscription Fee and an example copy of the Legal Agreement.
Please ensure when contacting HEAT Support that you indicate which type of membership(s) you are interested in.
After you have been in touch, our team will offer an informal chat to answer any queries that may help with the decision-making process. Once you are fairly sure you would like to join us, we may ask you to complete an online application form.
Complete the online HEAT Member Application form
This is a simple form which is put forward to a panel of members, who will consider if your organisation is a good fit for HEAT.
- Provide basic information about your organisation
- Explain your reasons for wanting to join HEAT
- Provide some broader context about your application
Preparation for joining
There are a few aspects we recommend considering as you prepare to join HEAT:
- Are you collecting the minimum Student data required for tracking?
- Think about the data-sharing agreements that may need to be put in place
- Ensure your data privacy notice and data collection processes are in place
Our team will be on hand to support you through the onboarding process, and will offer training to ensure you are getting the most out of HEAT and our community. Please do get in touch if you are interested or would like to learn more.