For Examiners

The information on this page is also available as a downloadable pdf: Information for External Examiners

Assuring Quality

External examiners are appointed by the University Court specifically to ensure that standards are maintained on a comparable level with universities throughout the UK and that the system of assessment is seen to be transparent and fair to all students. This is in accordance with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) ‘UK Quality Code for Higher Education’, the standards for external examining being in ‘Part B, Chapter B7: External Examining’.

QAA Quality Code: www.qaa.ac.uk/AssuringStandardsAndQuality/quality-code/Pages/default.aspx

Chapter B7: External Examining: www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Pages/quality-code-B7.aspx

The University’s academic quality assurance policies, procedures and practices can be found in the ‘Academic Quality Handbook’ (AQH) (www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality). Information on the role of the external examiner at the University can be found in Section 9 and information on the University’s assessment and examination policies and practices can be found in Section 7:

• External Examining: Taught Courses and Programmes: www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/section9.pdf
• Assessment and Examination Policies and Practices: Taught Courses and Programmes: www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/section7.pdf

Your attention is drawn in particular to the following documents:

• Common Assessment Scale (CAS) (marking scale for all coursework and assessments): www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/appendix7x3.pdf
• Honours Classification Spectrum (grade spectrum for determining degree classification): www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/appendix7x4.pdf
• Grade Spectrum for Postgraduate Taught Programmes: www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/appendix7x7.pdf

and to the University’s degree regulations:

• University Calendar: General Regulations for First Degrees: www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/calendar/generalregulations.php
• University Calendar: Postgraduate Degrees: www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/calendar/postgraduate.php

Principal Role of External Examiners

The principal role of external examiners is as follows:

• Participate in the setting of examination papers.
• Review a sufficient number and range of assessments to confirm the marks to be awarded to students.
• Moderate internal marks where appropriate.
• Participate in other assessment activities (e.g. clinical and oral examinations), where relevant.
• Comment on and give advice on course and programme content, balance and structure, and on assessment processes.
• Formally comment on the appropriateness of the standards of the University’s awards by completing annually an External Examiner’s Report.

See Section 9.2 of the Academic Quality Handbook: www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/section9.shtml

Further guidance

The Higher Education Academy (HEA) provides resources on their webpages for external examining, including an External Examiners’ Handbook:

HEA external examining webpages: www.heacademy.ac.uk/external-examining

HEA External Examiners’ Handbook: www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/externalexamining/External_Examiners_Handbook_2012.pdf

Information Provided by the School

At the beginning of each session, the School will provide you with information specific to the programmes and courses you examine. As a minimum, this will include:

• Course Guides/Programme Handbooks.
• Schedule for the scrutiny of draft examination papers.
• Schedule for the review of student assessments (continuous assessment and examination scripts).
• Dates of the examination meetings.

In addition, at the start of your appointment the School will provide you with a copy of the outgoing external examiner’s Final Report.

Information given to Students

Following the requirements of the QAA Quality Code, information regarding external examiners (name, position and institution) is published in the course and/or programme information provided to students. External examiner reports are also made available to students, with the exception of confidential reports submitted directly to the Principal.

Students are advised that they may not contact external examiners directly. Should a student contact you, please redirect this correspondence to the School rather than responding to the student.

Confidentiality

Confidential information that is not in the public domain will often be made available to external examiners during the examination process. Such information may only be used for purposes connected with your examining role and should not be divulged to a third party without the prior written consent of the University and of any student to which the information relates.

Please note that data subjects have the right of access to material under the Data Protection Act 1998 and that, even if marked confidential, your comments on work, annual reports or other reports or correspondence of any kind will be made available to data subjects on request. There are some exceptions to this within the Act; however, you should not assume – just because something is marked confidential – that it will not be released to the data subject, whether that be a student or a member of staff. Reports will also be released to others if specifically requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Reporting

External examiners are required to complete an annual report at the end of each academic year.

Your comments are central to the University’s quality assurance mechanisms. Your Report will be considered by the relevant School and College and by the Quality Assurance Committee and may be made available to other appropriate University Committees. Reports are also made available to Panels for the purposes of internal and external review. Following the requirements of the QAA Quality Code, external examiner reports are made available to student representatives through Staff–Student Liaison Committees.

Please ensure that Reports do not include any reference to individual candidates or staff by name.

Examiners are asked to submit their Reports as soon as possible after the examinations. The final dates for submitting undergraduate and postgraduate reports are:

You can submit your Report through a secure portal on the University’s website. On appointment you will be sent an ID and password to allow you to access the portal, with guidance about logging on and the portal’s web address. However, you may also complete a Word form and submit it by email to extexam@abdn.ac.uk:

Undergraduate Annual Report Form

Postgraduate Annual Report Form 

Payment and Expenses

All reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, including those incurred in relation to essential visits to the University, will be paid on production of the appropriate receipts. These expenses are not subject to income tax. Claims involving residential expenses usually take longer to process as these involve the Registry obtaining authorisation from the School concerned.

Fees are paid on receipt of the annual report. These are paid by BACS to your nominated bank account on the last working day of the month. A payslip will also be sent by post.

External examiners wishing to be treated as self-employed should contact extexam@abdn.ac.uk for further information.

General queries regarding external examining at the University of Aberdeen should be addressed to extexam@abdn.ac.uk.

Specific queries should be addressed to the School or Discipline for whom you examine.