Discover the tools that can make studying easier
UDISAS Higher Education is a digital needs assessment product for students, universities, and colleges. It guides you through questions about the barriers affecting your studies, helps you explore relevant strategies and technologies, and produces a personalised report that documents your needs and explains how the support strategies you have selected can help to address them.
Students can purchase an assessment directly.
Universities and colleges can provide access to students through institutional licences.
No diagnosis or existing source of support funding is required for individual use.
A guided route connecting study-related barriers to relevant support solutions.
One product, built for two audiences
Students can experience similar study-related barriers for different reasons, and the same barrier can affect people in different ways. Effective support starts by understanding the activities involved, the challenges a student faces, and the circumstances that shape them.
UDISAS Higher Education responds to this variation through one core assessment process, with questions and support options that adapt to each student’s circumstances.
UDISAS Higher Education is available for individual students to purchase directly and for universities and colleges to license for their students.
For individual students
Complete the assessment at your own pace, make informed choices about relevant strategies and technologies, and receive a report you can use to guide further action and support conversations with your university or college. Where the human touch is required, you can speak to a UDISAS assessor about specific circumstances or additional needs.
One-off purchase: £180.00 total
For universities and colleges
Provide individual students, selected groups, or wider cohorts with access to a comprehensive digital assessment informed by the depth and breadth of DSA needs assessment practice. In its default configuration, UDISAS Higher Education focuses on technology-based support and may be particularly valuable for students who are not accessing assessment and support through DSA, including international students. Universities and colleges can also apply for a limited five-licence trial.
Explore the trial: info below
Institutions: configure support around your provision
The standard individual edition presents technology-based support outcomes. Universities and colleges also receive Platform Management functionality, allowing them to manage licences and configure which available outcomes are presented to their students, including forms of human support. This can help align the assessment journey with local provision, existing technology licences, and institutional funding boundaries.
Test the platform, tell us where it could help
No cost
No obligation
Universities and colleges use different processes to identify needs and arrange support. We have ideas about where UDISAS could make those processes easier, but we want to understand which challenges matter most to the teams doing this work.
We are offering a limited number of five-licence trials at no charge. Your team can use UDISAS Higher Education to experience the assessment journey and see how the underlying platform gathers information, connects it to support options, and produces a written report.
The current edition focuses on technology-based outcomes. The trial gives you a working example of the platform’s capabilities and an opportunity to tell us how they could be applied in your institution.
The trial process
1. Explore the current product
Use five licences to experience UDISAS Higher Education and consider where its existing assessment journey could serve your students.
2. Share your assessment
Complete a brief online feedback form covering what worked well, what could improve, and anything that was unclear, or talk to us directly about your appraisal.
3. Identify the opportunities
Tell us which potential applications would address a meaningful challenge for your team, and suggest any uses we have not considered.
Where could the UDISAS platform help your institution?
We are exploring several possible applications. Some could use the current product; others would require further development. Which would be valuable to your institution, and what have we missed?
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Detailed assessment for students who are not accessing DSA-funded support, including international students and other students for whom an institution wishes to fund an assessment. The current default outcomes focus on technology-based support.
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Assessment pathways tailored to requirements such as UKRI-funded support, degree apprenticeships, Scottish DSA, or Northern Irish DSA. These would require further work and review of the relevant funding rules before use.
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Assessment that connects students with existing university resources, site-licensed technology, and free or lower-cost options. We are also exploring how a pathway might identify and document standard reasonable adjustments, with defined boundaries for decisions requiring professional review.
Connecting your study circumstances to relevant support strategies
UDISAS guides each student through one connected assessment journey. Questions adapt to earlier responses, relevant support options are presented for consideration, and the final report records the needs and choices identified along the way.
Complete the assessment online
At your own pace, work through questions about your studies, circumstances, and the challenges you experience. Your responses build a detailed picture of how different barriers affect your activities.
Explore and select relevant support
Based on your responses, UDISAS identifies relevant strategies and solutions for you to review, compare, and select. Where several solutions are available, product information, comparison points, and links to demonstration videos help you decide which is most suitable. You can ask a UDISAS assessor for further input when your circumstances are complex, unclear, or outside the available pathways.
Receive your personalised report
The platform automatically generates a personalised report recording the circumstances and difficulties identified through your responses, and explaining how each selected support strategy relates to the needs it is intended to address. The report also highlights areas of difficulty that could be addressed through reasonable adjustments, supporting subsequent conversations with your university or college.
A consistent process, with human expertise where it matters
For students
A traditional assessment brings important expertise into a scheduled conversation, but there is only so much time to reflect, recall examples, and consider support during one appointment. UDISAS Higher Education lets students work through detailed questions at their own pace, revisit their answers, and explore relevant technology-based options before deciding what to take forward. Their choices and reported difficulties are brought together in a personalised report.
For universities and colleges
UDISAS can make detailed assessment more accessible to larger groups of students without requiring specialist staff to conduct every part of the process individually. A consistent framework handles information gathering, support exploration, and report production, giving teams clearer records and more time for guidance, complex circumstances, and decisions that require professional judgement. Platform management functionality allows administrators to generate reports and analyse trends across the student population.
Where individual input is needed
Students can seek input from a UDISAS assessor when the available pathways do not fully address their needs. Institutions remain responsible for their own decisions about adjustments, funding, and provision.
Explore the foundations and find further answers
Built from professional practice
UDISAS was conceived and developed under Robin Hodges' leadership, drawing on 16 years of professional needs assessment practice and more than 4,500 completed assessments. Research into disability, study contexts, and assistive technology, together with consultation with multiple needs assessors, also informed the platform.
Still have questions?
Find further information about eligibility, completing the assessment, selecting support, reports, institutional access, and the role of assessors.
Choose your pathway forward
Whether you are considering an assessment for yourself or exploring UDISAS Higher Education for an organisation, there is a clear way to continue.
For individual students
Purchase a UDISAS Higher Education assessment
Complete the assessment online at your own pace, explore relevant support, and receive a personalised report connecting identified needs with the strategies you select.
For organisations
Discuss how UDISAS Higher Education could work in your context
Discuss your objectives and the most suitable approach to licences, student access, or wider implementation.