External examiners (taught provision)

External examiners (taught provision) are appointed to provide the University with impartial and independent advice and informed comment on the institution's academic standards and student achievement in relation to those standards, through oversight of the assessment process at the module and programme/award level. All University programmes of study, and modules therein, leading to an award of credit at foundation, undergraduate or postgraduate taught level must have one or more external examiners appointed.

If you are a current external examiner for taught programmes, information and guidelines can be found at www.birmingham.ac.uk/external

• Code of Practice 
• Guidance  
• Forms 
• Useful contacts 

Code of Practice

Central to the University’s External Examiner System (Taught Programmes) is the Code of Practice. All external examiners appointed by the University are required to adhere to the Code of Practice and within the University it is the responsibility of the Head of School or their nominee to ensure the information in this Code of Practice is adhered to and communicated to the nominated Examinations Officer and all academic staff designated as internal examiners. Legislation are cohort specific. The Code of Practice should be viewed specific to the year the students started their studies.

• Code of Practice on external examining 2019-20 (taught provision) (PDF - 429KB)   is the current Code of Practice for students entering in 2019-20
• Cohort specific legislation provides links to legislation specific to earlier cohorts of students

Guidance

The guidance below supports the Code of Practice and staff working with external examiners should ensure they are aware of the information in each.

• Guidance for External Examiners (PDF - 273KB) is sent to external examiners when they are first appointed and is also available on the University’s web page www.birmingham.ac.uk/external. 
• External examiner guidance for University staff (PDF - 442KB) contains information about the nomination of external examiners, procedures for extending an external examiner’s appointment and the annual reporting process. The relevant forms are listed below.
• A guide for students on the role of external examiners (PDF-274KB). We recommend that this is included if University staff are giving out any information to students which refers to external examiners (i.e. programme information).
• School responses to external examiner reports provides guidance about responding to reports and some examples of letters.
• Guidance for paying EE's examining UG programmes (PDF - 140KB) contains guidance about setting up a requisition in New Core and arranging payment of UG annual fees.
• External examiners who only examine PGT programmes, or who receive separate payment for examining PGT programmes, should be paid via the non-staff expenses claim form. This form can be used to combine both the examiners fee and any expenses and is available from https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/finance/A-Z-Forms.aspx.
• Guidance for setting external examiner fees (PDF - 218KB) contains general guidance about setting both UG and PGT external examiner fees and, for those assigned to undergraduate programmes, a set of general fee level descriptors and a fee ladder.

Forms

• Nomination form (Word - 100KB)  
• External examiner extension form (Word - 92KB) 

Useful contacts

General inquiries 

• Email: externalexaminers@contacts.bham.ac.uk 
• Tel: (0121) 414 4049 (or ext 44049)

College Academic Policy Partners (CAPPs)

Each 'CAPP' works in partnership with a college and their remit includes external examiners. To find out who your 'CAPP' is please see:

• College Academic Policy Partners contacts   

Head of School/Director of Education 

To find out who your Head of School or Director of Education is please see:

• Key people at the College of Arts & Law
• Key people at the College of Social Sciences
• Key people at the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• Key people at the College of Life & Environmental Sciences
• Key people at the College of Medical & Dental Sciences

Research Student Administration Team

For information about external examiners for postgraduate research programmes (not taught programmes)

• Research Student Administration Team