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External Examiners

Note of Guidance for Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Courses

Contents

General

Appointment

Status

School Responsibilities 

External Examiners’ Role 

Meetings of Boards of Examiners  

External Examiners' Reports 

Consultation of External Examiners on Other Matters 

Data Protection 

Privacy Notice

General 

1. The conduct of assessment in the University is governed by the Code of Assessment, which is published as part of the University Regulations. This statement sets out those matters relating to External Examiners for undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses and programmes. 
2. The University aligns with QAA Quality Code External Examining Principles. The role of External Examiner is considered a very important part of our quality enhancement and assurance practices. External Examiners are key to ensuring the University maintains academic standards at the appropriate level and that student performance is properly judged.

Appointment 

3. External Examiners are appointed by the University Court upon the recommendation of the Senate. 
4. When a vacancy arises, the name of a suitable External Examiner is put forward by the appropriate Head(s) of School after consultation with the subject area. The name is submitted on a pro forma together with information which allows the University to judge whether the person nominated has the necessary seniority and experience and meets the other requirements set out below.
5. External Examiners are normally appointed for a period of four years.
6. An External Examiner will not normally be reappointed unless at least five years have elapsed since the end of their last term of office.
7. No person who has been a member of staff of the University within the five years prior to the date of appointment shall normally be appointed as an External Examiner of the University.
8. In view of the time commitment required to fulfil the duties of External Examiners, including attendance at meetings of Boards of Examiners, a person appointed as an External Examiner may not normally hold more than one other External Examiner post during their period of appointment at the University of Glasgow. 
9. To avoid conflicts of interest, the following shall not normally be permitted:

• • An External Examiner from a School/department of another institution where a member of staff of the nominating School is serving as an External Examiner for programmes or courses provided by that department/subject area. 
  • The succession of an External Examiner by a colleague from the same home institution. 
  • More than one External Examiner from the same School/department of the same home institution examining the same courses and/or programmes. 

10. External Examiners shall: 

• • Be appointed in accordance with the University’s agreed procedures on the basis of their possession of substantial prior experience within institutions judged to be delivering courses and making awards of comparable standards;  
  • Or, where appropriate, on the basis of involvement in a professional capacity at the appropriate level of seniority. 

11. External Examiners shall have no potential conflict of interest or other impediment to the impartial discharge of the functions of external examining.
12. 12. External Examiners are asked to declare any link and/or relationship which might lead to a conflict of interests, e.g., prior acquaintance with a student in a personal or professional capacity.
13. 13. If you are unsure whether an appointee meets the required criteria, please contact apg-external-examiners@glasgow.ac.uk for advice.
14. A list of External Examiners is kept by Academic Policy & Governance.

Status 

15. External Examiners are full members of the relevant Board(s) of Examiners.
16. External Examiners must attend at least one Board of Examiners per year on a synchronous basis (i.e. attending either in Glasgow or electronically) and provide written comments related to courses to be ratified for any Board of Examiners they do not attend.

School Responsibilities 

17. On appointment, the School will ensure that External Examiners are sent the following information on the courses and programmes which they examine including: 

• • benchmark statements 
  • course information documentation 
  • details of the way in which the results of individual papers or other units of assessment are aggregated, averaged or profiled to produce an overall result 
  • details of any exemption schemes 
  • the dates of meetings of the Board(s) of Examiners 
  • the External Examiner report(s) for the previous session together with any relevant correspondence and the retiring External Examiner’s general report (where provided) 

This information is updated as necessary during the period of the appointment. 

18. During the academic year, Schools will ensure that External Examiners are sent the following:

• • Drafts of all proposed summative assessments with a weighting greater than 15% for review 
  • EvaSys summary and response documents and SSLC minutes 

19. Academic Policy & Governance will send the following information:

• • Information regarding relevant University policies and procedures, including the Code of Assessment, University Regulations, and University grading schemes 

20. Draft summative assessments should be sent to External Examiners in sufficient time for them to be able to propose changes and for discussion of the proposed changes where this is necessary. These should be checked for typographical errors and, where appropriate, accompanied by solutions and a marking scheme for each question.
21. Appropriate marked scripts and other work shared with External Examiners in advance of the meeting of the Board of Examiners. External Examiners should agree in advance with the School what constitutes appropriate scripts and other work based on the guiding principle that they should receive sufficient evidence to determine that internal marking and classifications are of an appropriate and consistent This will normally require External Examiners to sample from across the range of outcomes, particularly in relation to failing and borderline grades.
22. No work samples should be shared with External Examiners via an individual staff OneDrive, and we would encourage adding External Examiners to Moodle. Alternatively, programmes with large in-person examinations may wish to provide the External Examiner with access to hard copies of those scripts for consultation in advance of the Board of Examiners meeting. Where documents are shared directly with an External Examiner, this should be via a School SharePoint with strict privacy protocols implemented. 

External Examiners’ Role 

23. In respect of the design of the assessment scheme the role of the External Examiner is to:
    a)   Comment on the syllabus, learning objectives, and assessment scheme of the course and its delivery mechanism in reference to comparable courses and awards elsewhere and developments within the discipline or field.
    b)   Be consulted regarding proposals for the introduction or modification of a course.
24. In respect of a given assessment diet the External Examiner is expected to:
    a)   Comment on, in advance, all proposed summative assessment instruments worth 15% of more of the overall course grade.
    b)   Report on the overall standards achieved by candidates and in particular on the comparability of these standards with those of candidates on similar courses or programmes in other UK Higher Education institutions.
    c)    Report on the relationship between these overall standards, programme specifications (where available) and published national subject benchmark statements.
    d)   Assess the soundness and fairness of the implementation of the assessment process.
    e) Adjudicate where necessary, subject to the authority of Senate, over the grade to be awarded to any particular candidate.
    f)   Certify contentment with the assessment outcomes prior to their publication.
    g)   Provide an annual written report to the Principal.
    
25. External Examiners should ensure they have access to the necessary information and assessment material required to assist them in reaching a reasonable conclusion on assessment performance.
    
26. External Examiners should, where possible, have the same degree of involvement in both the content and the marking of practical examinations and other forms of summative assessment as they have for written papers. We would encourage Schools to facilitate External Examiners attending presentation and performance-based assessments where practical. 
27. External Examiners should take an active part in clinical examinations.
28. We would encourage Schools to facilitate a meeting between students and External Examiners without University of Glasgow staff present. This meeting should focus on the student experience, not assessment.
29. Where a School considers that an External Examiner is not fulfilling their duties, a written case for replacement should be made to Academic Policy & Governance. Considering this report the appointment may be terminated. 

Meetings of Boards of Examiners  

30. External Examiners are full members of the Board(s) of Examiners for the courses which they examine. 
31. External Examiners must attend in person (either on campus or online) at least one meeting of the Board per academic session. The role cannot be performed entirely asynchronously.

External Examiners' Reports 

32. External Examiners are required to report annually via the online reporting system following the final Board of Examiners applicable to their remit. It is essential that the University receives these reports to meet quality assurance and enhancement requirements. The report follows the guidelines published by the QAA, with questions covering programme and course design; assessment and feedback; examination processes; administration; standards and results; and quality enhancement.
33. The External Examiner’s fee is authorised upon receipt of the report. All reports are acknowledged.
34. The reports are reviewed by Academic Policy & Governance. Where deemed necessary, a School will be required to provide a response to issues Responses should be submitted within three months and will be forwarded to the External Examiner.
35. At the end of a term of office the External Examiner is invited to submit additional comments, noting areas of improved practice or ongoing concerns.
36. External Examiners’ reports and related correspondence are used by the University in internal subject reviews as well as in the external process of institutional review.
37. Under the QAA Quality Code External Examining Principles, institutions are required to include the names, position and institution of their External Examiners in course or programme information provided to students.
38. External Examiner reports are required to be made available in full to students. Therefore, no identifying information should be provided in the report.
39. External Examiners may submit confidential reports to the Principal on any aspect of their responsibilities as they see it. These reports are not published alongside normal reporting.
40. In the event that an External Examiner has a serious concern relating to systemic failings with the academic standards, and when all published applicable internal procedures have been exhausted including the submission of a confidential report to the Principal, they may invoke the QAA’s concerns scheme or inform the relevant professional, statutory or regulatory body. 
41. External Examiners who fail to submit their annual report without good cause are liable to have their appointment terminated. 

Consultation of External Examiners on Other Matters 

42. External Examiners are formally consulted on proposals for the introduction of a new course or programme in their area of expertise and on changes to the course(s) for which they are an examiner. Boards of Studies (or their equivalent) will not usually endorse proposals for new courses or changes to existing courses without having the views of all relevant External Examiners.
43. External Examiners should receive relevant Annual Quality and Enhancement Review reports from the Schools with which they act as examiner. 

Data Protection 

44. External Examiners consent to the University holding and processing, both electronically and manually, the data that it collects about them, in the course of the working relationship with the University, for the purposes of the administration and management of its staff and for compliance with applicable laws, procedures and regulations. A full data privacy notice can be found below: 

 

Privacy Notice for External Examiners

The University of Glasgow will be what’s known as the ‘Data Controller’ of personal data processed in relation to your role as an External Examiner for undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses and programmes, including recruitment to the role, submission and processing of reports, and payment of fees and expenses.

This privacy notice explains how the University of Glasgow will process your personal data and details information that must be provided to you under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The data we process

We are collecting your personal data so that you can carry out your role, be paid for your work, and to ensure that we comply with our responsibilities as an employer. We will collect only the data that is

essential to allow us to do this during the nomination process and your term as External Examiner including:

• Name, date of birth, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number.
• Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history, including start and end dates with previous employers.
• For the purposes of payment of fees and expenses, your national insurance number and details of your bank account including, if claiming expenses, a redacted bank statement or digital banking app for verification purposes.
• Details of your nationality and eligibility to work in the UK, including your passport and Right to Work documentation if applicable.

The Legal basis for processing your data

As per UK GDPR legislation, we must have a legal basis for processing all personal data. In this instance, the legal basis is:

• Article 6(1)b – contract – which allows for data to be processed when it is necessary for a contract. There is a contractual relationship between you and the University as outlined in your appointment letter and the data we collect is necessary for the performance of that contract.
• Article 6(1)c – legal obligation – which allows for data to be processed when it is necessary for a legal obligation, in this instance to assess your right to work as per the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

What we use your personal data for

We will use your information for the following purposes:

• To manage the nomination process.
• To maintain accurate and up-to-date records and to communicate with you effectively.
• To manage all tasks associated with your position as External Examiner, including payroll and expenses and establishing your right to work in the UK.
• To ensure effective general and business administration.

What we do and who we share it with

Data held by Academic Policy & Governance is stored within a dedicated system hosted on the University of Glasgow’s internal servers to which access is restricted to a limited number of staff based on the nature of their role. This allows for External Examiner remits to be assigned; reports to be generated, appropriately issued and processed; and for accurate payments to be made.

In addition, data is held on our HR system (People XD) to facilitate the issuing of a staff ID and the processing of fee payments. This is a GDPR compliant third-party system, with cloud storage hosted on servers in the UK and EU. At the University of Glasgow, the data on this system is accessible only by select colleagues in HR, Finance, and Academic Policy & Governance who have a legitimate reason to do so as part of their role.

Data may also be processed by the School responsible for the courses and/or programmes in your remit to facilitate the payment of any expenses you incur.

All the personal data that you submit is processed by staff at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, however, some data may be shared with external organisations, including:

• If your appointment is associated with courses and/or programmes that are accredited by Professional, Statutory, and Regulatory Bodies, your name, qualifications and home institution details may be shared with them during accreditation and monitoring processes.
• Relevant Government Departments including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI).

How long do we keep it for?

Personal data, except your name and the end date of your employment, will be retained by Academic Policy & Governance for the duration of your employment plus one year. Beyond this, your name is only used to ensure any future appointment as an external examiner at the University of Glasgow complies with our regulations and QAA guidance that examiners should not be reappointed within five years of their contract ending.

Data related to Right to Work checks, including passport information, is held for the duration of your employment plus two years.

Data related to expenses claims submitted to the relevant School is held for the current financial year plus six years.

Data held by our HR department, including payroll information, is retained for the duration of your employment plus six years. However, the University of Glasgow will keep a record of your employment at the University indefinitely for tax and pension reasons. The relevant Privacy Notice can be found on our website: www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/pod/a-z/hrrecordsretention/privacynotice-staff/

What are your rights?

You can request access to the information we process about you at any time. If at any point you believe the information we process relating to you is incorrect, you can request to see this information and may in some instances request to have it restricted, corrected, or erased. You may also have the right to object to the processing of data and the right to data portability.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please submit your request via the webform or contact dp@gla.ac.uk.

*Please note that the ability to exercise these rights will vary and depend on the legal basis on which the processing is being carried out.

Complaints

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact the University Data Protection Office who will investigate the matter.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, then you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): https://ico.org.uk.