Case Study:
The Sutton Trust

“We’re confident of the quality and independence of the work, and the reputation of the Bridge Group is important for us.”

The Sutton Trust champions social mobility through programmes, research and policy influence and is the leading charity nationally in this area. With 4,100 young people from across the UK attending a face-to-face Sutton Trust programme each year and 10,000 students having access to our digital programme of support, ongoing research and evaluation are key.

The Bridge Group has been working with the Sutton Trust since 2017, evaluating existing outreach programmes and researching the need for additional developments in specific professions and sectors. This includes annual evaluations of Pathways programmes and the UK Summer Schools, as well as a number of one-off reports.

Director of Programmes Katy Hampshire and Head of University Access and Digital Jonny Tyndall say that the Bridge Group’s knowledge of access and social mobility in the higher education and employment sectors is what helps the Bridge Group stand out when compared to other evaluators. Katy notes that the Bridge Group name is known and respected, and “brings weight to the reports”. This is of value when the Sutton Trust takes them to stakeholders.

The Sutton Trust sees the Bridge Group as impartial, providing honest feedback. “We’re confident of the quality and independence of the work, and the reputation of the Bridge Group is important for us,” comments Katy. “It’s obvious I’d go to the Bridge Group when I have an external evaluation to do.”

“We got a genuine comparison on our programmes pre-, during, and post-pandemic. That’s feeding into our bigger strategic decision about online versus in-person programme delivery.”

Jonny points to the value of consistency of methodology across programmes and projects as well as over time: “The longitudinal data, and consistent working with the Bridge Group over the last five years, has given us a really useful reference point for comparison. We got a genuine comparison on our programmes pre-, during, and post-pandemic. That’s feeding into our bigger strategic decision about online versus in-person programme delivery … the Bridge Group reports are an important part of that decision.”

The Trust also places high value on qualitative insights, for example from the Bridge Group’s interviews with Pathways university coordinators. Katy notes that interview findings help the Trust to “… get under the skin of programme delivery, and help us prioritise practical actions that improve the quality of our delivery, sharing of best practice and increasing impact.”

The Bridge Group’s recommendations continue to inform improvements to programmes. “With our US Programme we had a hunch some aspects of delivery could be improved,” says Jonny. “We were able to use the Bridge Group report to inform the providers about the challenges [programme] students were experiencing, and the Colleges were able to adapt the induction support they offered so it was a better fit.”

Katy and Jonny value the long-standing relationship with the Bridge Group. Katy comments: “Their robust evaluations enable the Sutton Trust to continue to support thousands of young people from less advantaged backgrounds annually to access leading universities and careers.”  

September 2023