External examiners

We engage external examiners for all taught degrees as part of our commitment to ensuring the continuing standards and quality of its academic provision.

This area has been designed to support external examiners in their role. Information includes:

• resources for new external examiners
• guidance on the role
• access to the online annual report system.

Guidance on the processes and procedures relating to our engagement of external examiners for taught degrees is available in chapter 2 of the Quality Management Handbook.

These processes take account of the Conditions of Registration set by the Office for Students and the Quality Assurance Agency’s (QAA) Advice and Guidance on External Expertise which supports the UK Quality Code for higher education.

For any further queries, please contact:

For information regarding external examiners for research degrees please contact the Graduate School.

If you need access to the Virtual Learning Environment, use the VLE request access form.

The following information is directed at external examiners in order to support them in completing their duties:

Role

External examiners are external subject experts who do not contribute to programme delivery, through teaching or any other direct capacity. Rather, they provide impartial advice and independent comment on, and confirmation of:

• the quality and standards of the courses in relation to the national standards and frameworks
• the reasonable comparability of standards with other UK providers of whom they have experience
• areas of good practice and recommendations for enhancement
• our consistent and fair implementation of our policies and procedures to ensure the integrity and rigour of assessment practices including Progression and Award Boards.

Guidance on the processes and procedures relating to our engagement of external examiners for taught degrees is available in chapter 2 of the Quality Management Handbook.

Engagement

Initial liaison around the engagement of External Examiner will be conducted within the relevant faculty. Thereafter, all nominations are subject to approval at the External Examiners Sub-committee.                                 

Personnel approval is conducted alongside the committee approval process. This is to ensure that all documentation and relevant checks are carried out before engagement in any external examiner duties. The personnel checks include the signing of a terms and conditions document and successfully completing a right to work check. Processes are aligned to IR35 legislation.

Following the approval of the nomination and relevant personnel checks, external examiners will receive a letter outlining their responsibilities as an Edge Hill University external examiner, the programme/s they are responsible for and the dates of tenure.

All correspondence in relation to the engagement will be issued to the address provided on the nomination, should this change please notify the Academic Quality Officer.

Upon engagement, external examiners will receive the external examiners handbook, the academic regulations and details regarding induction.

Annual report

The Annual Report is completed online no late than four weeks after the date of the final meeting of the examination board.

If there is a matter of serious concern, external examiners report this directly to the Vice-Chancellor.

Induction

Induction, training and development opportunities are provided for external examiners and members of staff who aspire to be external examiners. This approach to induction and training for external examiners is informed by Advance HE’s Degree Standards Project, and is delivered by the Governance, Quality Assurance and Student Casework team in conjunction with the Centre for Learning and Teaching. The series of online videos have been produced to support external examiners in their role and newly appointed external examiners are encouraged to watch them.

Fees and expenses

Payment for any duties carried out as an external examiner is based on the submission of fees and expenses claim forms. Fees and expenses should normally be claimed within 30 days of any external examiner duties undertaken.

All external examiner duties are paid at an hourly rate in accordance with the time allocation detailed in our fees and workload policy. For more information on our expectations around moderation please see our policy developed by our Centre for Learning and Teaching. If you do exceed these hours, please contact us.

• Any claims for payment must be submitted using the claim form.
• Itemised receipts for any expense claims will need to be provided, more details can be found in the fees and workload policy.
• Initially, external examiners complete a new payee form to be registered for payment.
• If bank details change, please inform the department.

All fee and expense claims including receipts must be submitted on the appropriate form to the Academic Quality Officer.

Alternatively, this can be posted to: Academic Quality Officer, Governance, Quality Assurance and Student Casework, Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 4QP.

Payment

All fee claims are subject to tax and national insurance deductions in line with HMRC requirements. Any fee/expenses that are claimed are paid directly into a building society or bank account on the last working day of the month as detailed on the claim form. In order to receive payment, claim forms must be received before the last working day of the previous month. Please note that there may be earlier deadlines in December and July due to holidays and financial year end.

Useful information

• External examiner handbook
• External examiner claim form
• New payee form
• Privacy Notice External Examiners
• Administration – any queries around samples of assessment, module boards, meetings with programme teams or other local matters should be directed to the departmental administrator.
• Accommodation – where duties require an overnight stay in the local area, the institution will arrange this and be invoiced directly. Other expenses should be claimed back using the claim form.
• Car parking and taxis – this can be organised on request.

Assessment boards

Assessment boards operate with delegated authority from academic board in confirming progression and award results. We operate a two-tier assessment board system for the determination of marks and results:

• First tier: module assessment boards
• Second tier: progression and award boards

Combined tier assessment boards may be convened where appropriate within programme/courses to assume the responsibilities of both module assessment boards and progression/award boards.

External examiners are required to attend appropriate assessment board meetings but we are conscious that, within a tiered assessment board system, it may not be possible for external examiners to attend at both module and programme level. The University’s general position is that subject external examiners should attend at the module board level with specifically designated examiners attending at the second tier stage. Where the operation of combined boards means that external examiners can attend both module and progression and award boards there is no requirement to designate individuals to have an oversight of the second tier stage.

It is important to stress that whilst we stipulate a minimum requirement for attendance at assessment boards, external examiners have a right, and are welcome, to attend all assessment boards they are associated with at any level.

If you would like anymore information regarding the Role and Remit of Edge Hill Assessment Boards, please contact the senior registrar.