External Examiners Details
Universities and other institutions with degree awarding powers are responsible for the quality of their educational programmes and the standard of the awards to which they lead. The external examiner system within UK higher education is one of the principal means for assuring the maintenance of threshold academic standards, and the quality of the evidence produced by external examiners is crucially dependent on their ‘externality’ and expertise. The external examiner should be an ‘independent witness’ who is not compromised by a prior association with the programme team, or by some reciprocal arrangement with their own department. External examiners should also be ‘expert witnesses’ whose authority is derived from their knowledge of the discipline and experience of both teaching and assessment.
Edge Hill University’s external examiner system addresses the OfS’s Ongoing Conditions of Registration and is informed by both the QAA Advice and Guidance on the use of external expertise in academic quality assurance and the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assurance (UKSCQA) External Examining Principles.
Students are entitled to know the identity and current position of the external examiners appointed to their modules/programmes and awards.
Please note
- that students should not contact the external examiner for their programme directly and any queries or concerns about the programme or assessment process should be directed to staff within the University in the first instance.