External examiners (taught provision)

External examiner guidance for University staff (PDF - 442KB) contains full information about the nomination of external examiners, procedures for extending an external examiner’s appointment and the annual reporting process. The guidance and forms in the below sections supplement this.

The guidance crib sheet (soon to be added) is aimed at the person/people within a School/College who have the designated over-all responsibility for External Examiner record keeping, and those who support the adminsitration of the process.

Nomination Guidance Points (Word - 23KB) provides information to support the completion of the external examiner nomination form including how to avoid conflicts of interest.

External Examiner Nomination form (DOCX - 57KB)

External Examiner Extension Form  (Word - 73KB) 

Schools are required to maintain an up-to-date list of External Examiner appointments held at other institutions by School academic staff. This helps avoid reciprocal arrangements when appointing external examiners. Registry will ask for these lists during the year to quality check appointments.

Please ensure that the CV of the nominee includes specific detail to demonstrate their teaching and assessment experience within modules on programmes.

External Examiner Report Questions (MS Word 45KB) may be a useful reference point for Schools to check whether they have provided all relevant information to their external examiners.

• programme handbooks (to include programme specifications);
• module specifications;
• student handbooks;
• School and/or programme -specific Degree Classification Descriptors, and a copy of the University OfS Level 6 Degree Classification Descriptors (where applicable);
• marking and assessment criteria;
• guidance on marking and moderation practices;
• materials or information evidencing alignment of English language Proficiency and Degree Classification Descriptors in marking criteria;
• relevant OfS sector-recognised standards and QAA subject benchmark statements; including how equality, diversity, and inclusion aspects within the benchmark are incorporated into the curriculum, assessment, and course material;
• details of Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements where appropriate;
• School guidance and processes to mitigate inappropriate or unauthorised use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in assessments;
• details of distance learning provision (if applicable);
• details of Apprenticeship programmes where appropriate (this includes the Apprenticeship Standard, Apprenticeship Assessment Plan, and the knowledge, skills and behaviours);
• details of programmes delivered on the University’s Dubai campus where appropriate;
• details of microcredentials where appropriate

The University encourages external examiners to meet with representative groups of students in order to discuss the students experiences of the programme of study, and feed this back to the School.

• The School should offer external examiners this opportunity and meetings are usually held in relatively informal circumstances such as over lunch.
• Make it clear to the external examiner of this meeting opportunity if the meeting is incorporated into another visit, to ensure there is no doubt of the offering (e.g. it may be combined with a lab visit or project day visit).
• Meetings can be held virtually or in-person to suit the circumstances and arrangements of the programmes, students, and external examiner. Meetings via Skype, for example, are permitted.
• Only the external examiner(s) and students are to be present at the meeting to discuss student views.
• The meetings can take place at any point in the academic session.
• Schools should inform students of the purpose of these meetings, and the limitations (e.g. not being able to discuss individual assessment outcomes).

The submitting a report page provides guidance and deadlines for the annual reporting process. Here you will also find a link to the External Examiner Annual Report questions asked of external exmainers. This is a useful reference point for Schools to check whether they have provided all relevant information to their external examiners.

School responses to external examiner reports provides guidance about responding to reports and some examples of letters.

Guidance for setting external examiner fees (PDF - 385KB) contains general guidance external examiner fees for taught programmes

Schools are responsible for paying the agreed fee for the service provided by their External Examiner. 

Payment is conditional upon receipt of the report(s) for the programme(s) examined and the payment process should begin immediately upon confirmation of receipt of the annual report.

The claim form (and guidance on how to complete it) are available from the transactions services web page.