External Examiners

External Examiners are able to provide carefully considered advice on the academic standards of the awards, programmes and/or modules to which they have been assigned, and can offer advice on good practice and opportunities to enhance the quality of those programmes/modules. They are also able to offer an informed view of how standards compare with the same or similar awards at other higher education institutions (primarily in the UK , and sometimes overseas as well) of which they have experience.

Awarding institutions expect their external examiners to provide informative comment and recommendations upon whether or not:

• an institution is maintaining the threshold academic standards set for its awards in accordance with the frameworks for higher education qualifications and applicable subject benchmark statements;

• the assessment process measures student achievement rigorously and fairly against the intended outcomes of the programme(s) and is conducted in line with the institution's policies and regulations;

• the academic standards and the achievements of students are comparable with those in other UK higher education institutions of which the external examiners have experience.

Extract from UK Quality Code for Higher Education - Chapter B7: External examining

Aims

• To review, evaluate and moderate examination and other assessment methods

• To ensure the consistency and comparability of academic standards by reviewing and evaluating the assessment process and by moderating assessed work on a sampling basis

• To ensure that the decision-making process at Exam Boards is fair and consistent

• To provide a written report on the standards of student attainment and the validity, reliability and integrity of the assessment process

Outline of the Process

• External Examiners should be appointed one year before they are due to begin their duties.

• Departmental nominations, submitted on an External Examiner nomination form are scrutinised in the Quality Office of the to ensure that they comply with the criteria for appointment before being forwarded to the Pro-Warden (Students and Learning Development) for consideration, and then to Academic Board for final approval.

• Following approval External Examiners are sent an information pack including a letter of appointment, the Guidelines for External and Intercollegiate Examiners, general and specific regulations relating to the programme(s) of study they are examining, together with the relevant scheme of marking and the annual report form. Newly appointed examiners are sent the most recent copy of the outgoing External Examiner’s report and a link to a podcast from the Pro-Warden (Student and Learning Development) giving details of the College’s expectations of External Examiners.

• Following this, Departments liaise exclusively with External Examiners, asking them to agree the content of assessed work questions, and sending them samples of marked work to assess how the grading criteria are being applied in relation to learning outcomes and the level of achievement, to ensure that standards are being upheld.

• At least one External Examiner and if possible an intercollegiate examiner should attend each Board meeting. There are certain circumstances in which it is permissible for the Board to go ahead without the presence of at least one External or intercollegiate examiner. See the assessment regulations for more information.

• Each External Examiner completes a report on their subject area, which should be returned in a timely way to the Quality Assurance Manager after the final Board that they attend.

• If the report raises issues of a serious nature it is referred to the Pro-Warden (Students and Learning Development) and the Director of Quality, Planning and Academic Governance to ensure that these are addressed as a matter of urgency. Reports are then sent to the appropriate Head of Department for consideration by the Department and Chair of the Examination Board.

• Departments are required to make a formal response to each External Examiner’s report. This may be from either the Chair of the Examination Board, the programme co-ordinator or the Head of Department, but in any event must be endorsed by the Head of Department. Responses are then returned to the Quality Assurance Manager where they are read in conjunction with the reports and sent to the External Examiners.

• A commentary on the External Examiner’s report and the Department’s response is included in the Annual Programme Review report. External Examiners’ reports and Departmental responses are analysed by the Quality Assurance Manager, who prepares a digest of issues for submission to Academic Board.