External Examiner Frequently Asked Questions

These Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are designed to provide useful information to new and existing external examiners, who are appointed to undergraduate or postgraduate courses. These FAQs were updated December 2021.

1. New External Examiners

1.1 Will I have an induction?

New External Examiners are primarily inducted through the material sent out by the Academic Quality and Partnerships (AQP) office and the School.

All new and existing External Examiners will be invited to an induction scheduled during the year on the role of the External Examiner and on the Examination and Assessment Regulations.

This will include:

An overview of the institution
The role of the External Examiner
Principles governing the University Examination and Assessment Regulations
Summary of External Examiner reports (from the previous academic year)
An opportunity to meet with School faculty and students.

The agenda and papers are available on the following web pages:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/externalexaminers/eeinduction

Briefing sessions will also be scheduled with the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students before you attend your School Progression and Award Board.

The AQP office will be in touch with you about dates at the beginning of the year.

1.2 What will be provided, if you are an inexperienced External Examiner?

In addition to the induction and briefing session, as you have not previously acted as an external examiner at UG/PG level, in accordance with our policy, we will ask one of our more experienced external examiners from the subject are (or associated subject area) to act as a mentor to you during your first year to offer you support and guidance. The School will support you in your role and advise you of tasks and processes in general. The role of the mentor is to offer guidance should you have concerns regarding benchmarking with the sector, for example, when you sign off exam papers and moderate samples of work. The school will contact you regarding your mentor.

2. Tenure

2.1 What will be the period of tenure?

External Examiners are normally appointed for four academic years; for example, from October 2019/20 until September 2023/24 for undergraduate courses or October 2019/20 until December 2023/24 for postgraduate courses. The AQP office will send you a letter at the beginning of your appointment which specifies the period of tenure.

2.2 If I am unable to complete my tenure, what should I do?

External Examiners should only leave prior to the end of their term of office if absolutely essential. You will be required to give a full term’s notice and be asked to complete the moderation within that term.

However, in exceptional circumstances, for example serious illness, less notice may be given.

If you are unable to complete your tenure you should write to or email the AQP office as soon as possible, who will inform relevant colleagues.

3. External Examiner Role

3.1 What is my role as External Examiner?

The core duties of External Examiners are (extract from Handbook on the policy and procedures for the external examining of taught courses):

(a) To report on whether the standards set are appropriate for the University’s awards, or award elements, by reference to published national subject benchmarks, the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, course specifications and other relevant information.

(b) To report on the standards of student performance in courses or parts of courses which they have been appointed to examine, and on the comparability of the standards with those of similar courses or parts of courses in other UK higher education institutions.

(c) To report on the extent to which processes for assessment, examination and the determination of awards are rigorous, ensure equity of treatment for students and have been fairly conducted in accordance with the University regulations and policies, as demonstrated by reviewing a sample of assessed work.

(d) To report on whether the assessment processes measure student achievement rigorously and fairly against the intended learning outcomes and enable students to demonstrate the achievement of the intended learning outcomes.

(e) To report on the appropriateness of the published marking criteria.

(f) To scrutinise and approve draft examination papers and assessment tasks for essays/large weighted assessments. External Examiners will be advised of the School’s marking strategy.

(g) To confirm that the marking and internal moderation processes have been conducted appropriately based on the marks and feedback provided in a sample of assessed work (as set out in 4.3).

(h) To be a full member of and attend the main meeting of the relevant PAB. At least one External Examiner who has attended the main PAB must also attend the resit PAB meeting.

(i) To sign a statement of compliance to confirm that the University’s assessment regulations and policies have been complied with. This should be completed at the end of the PAB.

(j) To submit an annual report to the Pro Vice-Chancellor and a final report at the end of the appointment period.

3.2 What is a Lead External Examiner?

A Lead External Examiner is appointed where there is more than one External Examiner appointed at course level. If you are appointed as a Lead External Examiner, you will act as a first point of contact for rare occasions where a quick decision is required from an External Examiners who will act as a representative to the course.

In addition to any normal examining duties, as Lead External Examiner you will be expected to:

confirm that a consistent and acceptable standard is being maintained across the course
sign off assessments scheduled for the course
act as a first point of contact where a quick decision is required
act as a mentor for new or inexperienced External Examiners
attend the Main PAB and Resit PAB

Note you will receive an additional fee of £100.00 for being appointed as Lead External Examiner.

3.3 What is my role as a mentor?

Your role as a mentor will require you to be on hand during the mentees first year,for any queries regarding benchmarking with the sector. You are encouraged to share your experience of acting as an external examiner and of working at your own institution and others, if relevant, in particular where the mentee has concerns about signing off exam papers and moderating samples of work. Your mentee will be advised to contact the school regarding their role and the operation of tasks and processes within the institution. You will not be asked to advise your mentee on the University’s regulatory framework or its application.

4. Moderation

4.1 What is moderation?

Moderation is a process that is undertaken following the completion of the marking and marks checking process. Moderation is based on a review of the marks and feedback provided in a sample of assessments and is undertaken to establish whether the marking procedures have been conducted appropriately. Moderation determines if these assessment outcomes are appropriate, consistent and fair, with reference to the approved marking criteria and assessment task. No marks or feedback may be changed as part of the moderation process.

4.2 What written work will I receive?

As an External Examiner you will be provided with a sample of student work. The sample will represent 10% of the assessments (subject to a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 25) and all fails. The sample will represent all classification bands. Module assessments weighted at ≤30% will normally be excluded from moderation.

You should receive the following at the start of the year:

Course specifications setting out course structure and modules
Course aims and learning outcomes
A list of modules to be externally moderated
Module aims and learning outcomes
Module assessment modes
Marking criteria
Reading lists
Copy of most recent Annual Course Review report
Copy of previous External Examiner’s report
Copy of Progression and Award Board’s annual report

You should receive the following at the point of moderation:

Assessment task
Access to the full marks register for the cohort
Module marks statistics
A moderation form containing the internal moderator's comments about the sample of assessments reviewed as part of internal moderation

4.3 What is my role in reviewing the sample?

As External Examiner, it is your responsibility to review the agreed marks and feedback provided in the sample of assessments and decide if these assessment outcomes are appropriate, consistent and fair, with reference to the approved marking criteria and the assessment task. The sample should demonstrate that marking, feedback and moderation have been completed. To support you in making your decision you have access to the full marks register, statistics by band, mean and standard deviation for the assessments to date. The sample for moderation has been auto-selected to meet the minimum requirements set by the University. However, you will be able to view all submissions for the cohort via the navigation arrows within Turnitin if you wish to do so.

You will not be provided with evidence of a marks checking (second marking) process. This is because the University is asking you to review the assessment outcomes (the agreed marks and feedback that have been provided), not how they were achieved or how marking disagreements were resolved. Therefore, you will not be provided with the outcomes from Marker 1, Marker 2 and an agreed mark.

If you have concerns about the marking or feedback given on the assessments in the sample and are unable to confirm that the sample shows appropriate assessment outcomes for the cohort, then you may request a second sample in hard copy for further scrutiny. If you wish to reject the sample, you may determine whether all or part of the assessment is remarked, for example, the first class band or a particular examination question. Please contact the School if you have any concerns regarding the sample before you accept or reject it. University policy ensures that a marking review would be undertaken for the whole cohort where a concern had been raised as part of moderation, rather than a review of the individual cases identified.

Please refer to the Examination and Assessment Regulations on 'Marking moderation and feedback' for more information on the moderation process: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/examsandassessment

4.4 Can I change marks?

You are not permitted to change individual marks or feedback, act as an additional marker or decide on disagreed marks. This is because you are not part of the marking team. As the External Examiner, you are providing a quality assurance function and you are only reviewing a sample of students’ work.

If you have concerns about the sample, you should request a second different sample to review and/or refer back for a full/partial remark. Please refer to question 4.3 above.

4.5 How will I moderate work submitted electronically?

At the beginning of your appointment, Information Technology Services (ITS) will send an email to your home institution. The email will include a Sussex email address and login details which will be required by our system for external moderation. You will receive an automatic email notification from our system via the Sussex email address when moderation is required with instructions on what to do. You may decide to complete moderation as and when it is ready, or to moderate a number of assessments in one go, for example, after the mid-year assessments.

If you have any technical issues, please contact ITS: support@its.sussex.ac.uk

Information and resources, including a video on how moderation is conducted in the e-submission is provided via the following web pages:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tel/submission/staff/moderation

You can also add your Sussex email address to the Outlook that you use for your own home Institution. This guide will take you step by step through the process. If you do have any technical issues you can contact ITS: support@its.sussex.ac.uk

4.6 Is there a guide to support moderation?

A Guide to support External Examiners with moderation can be found here; EE guide to support moderation [PDF 119.58KB]

5. Planning my work

5.1 When will I be told when to expect work and how can I find out when the exam boards will be held?

An annual External Examiner letter is sent out by the University at the beginning of the academic year. It includes a schedule of Progression and Award (PAB) dates and a proposed timescale within which Schools will send assessments for external moderation. After this, the Deputy Chair of the PAB will contact External Examiners with specific dates for the School PAB and specific date for when to expect assessments for moderation.

The annual letter will include:

A link to the Examination and Assessment Regulations
A link to the policy and procedures for external examining of taught courses
Summary of External Examiner reports (from the previous academic year)
Schedule of PAB dates and proposed timescale for external moderation

5.2 Will I have an opportunity to meet with students?

External Examiners should meet annually with students to assist in:

understanding the context of the academic provision;
gaining a general impression of the competence of the students;
obtaining feedback on the student experience.

The School will contact you to arrange a date for you to meet with students. There may also be an opportunity to meet with students after the annual induction for External Examiners.

5.3 How will these meetings with students be arranged?

Your School will decide how best to arrange these meetings. You may be invited to a School activity, for example, a presentation or you may be invited to meet with students for an informal discussion.

These sessions should be unsupervised and will include students from all levels, although no student will be required to attend.

6. Attending the Progression and Award Board (PAB)

6.1 Do I need to attend all the PAB meetings?

All External Examiners are invited to attend the main meeting of the relevant Progression and Award Board (PAB). At least one External Examiner who has attended the main PAB must also attend the Resit PAB meeting. The Deputy Chair of the PAB will contact External Examiners at the beginning of the academic year to invite you to the PAB. External Examiners are also members of the Module Assessment Board (MAB) and are welcome to attend the MAB, but are not required to do so. Please let the School know if you would like to attend the MAB.

6.2 Who should I contact if I am unable to attend an Exam Board?

External Examiners should contact the Deputy Chair of the Progression and Award Board or your School contact as soon as you can if you are unable to make the exam board.

6.3 Will I be involved with exceptional circumstances or academic misconduct cases?

External Examiners have no specific role in individual cases relating to exceptional circumstances or academic misconduct, except as members of the Progression and Award Board to ensure that the University’s relevant procedures have been applied appropriately and fairly.

The University has separate procedures for considering matters of exceptional circumstances and academic misconduct and these are set out Section 2 of the Examination and Assessment Regulations Handbook available at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/examsandassessment

Progression and Award Boards consider the impact of exceptional circumstances and academic misconduct on a student’s academic performance and may offer another assessment opportunity in accordance with the examination and assessment regulations.

6.4 What happens if I am unwilling to endorse the outcomes for an individual student?

The final decision rests with the Chair of the PAB to determine the outcome for individual students within the authority delegated to the PAB, as set out in the examination and assessment regulations. The Chair of the PAB will report any cases that you do not endorse to the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students) immediately. If you have serious concerns, you should make a separate and confidential report to the Vice-Chancellor.

7. Report

7.1 When and how do I submit my annual report?

External Examiners are required to submit an annual External Examiner report to the University within 6 weeks of the exam board. All reports should be submitted to: externalexaminers@sussex.ac.uk

The External Examiner report form can be found at:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/externalexaminers

7.2 What happens to my report once I have submitted it?

Once your report has been received by the AQP office, it will be passed onto a number of different people, including the Head of School and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students).

The School will prepare an action plan that addresses any School Related issues raised in the External Examiner report. The Chair of the Progression and Award Board will send you the agreed action plan following approval at the School Education Committee. Separately, the AQP office will draft a summary report which includes generic issues and in particular those related to university-wide policy where such matters are not within the authority of the School to address. This summary of issues and agreed actions will be sent to you following approval at University Education Committee.

All External Examiner reports will be considered as part of Annual Course Review.

7.3 What happens if I do not submit an annual report?

You will be sent 2 reminders by the AQP office.

If your report is not received within 6 weeks of the final PAB, the AQP Office will contact you to enquire about the reason for lateness of the report and to agree a further deadline. If the AQP office does not receive your report in time to be considered as part of Annual Course Review then the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education and Students) may consider terminating your contract.

7.4 What should I do if I have serious concern?

If you have a serious concern relating to academic standards you should raise this directly with the PVC for Education and Students. As a last resort, if the concern has not been resolved, and relates to a systematic issue rather than a one off case of ineffective practice, you may raise the matter externally with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

8. Fees and Expenses

8.1 How do I claim my fee payment?

Claiming for fees is usually done at the end of the academic year on submission of your report form. On receipt of your annual report, the Academic Quality and Partnerships office will contact you with the details of your payment and when you are expected to receive it.

External Examiners are asked to complete the Acceptance Form on appointment, providing details of a bank account into which fees and expense payments will be made. All External Examiners must undergo a right to work check to provide proof of their eligibility to live and work in the UK. Please note that fee payments will not be made without these requirements being met

8.2 How is my fee calculated?

You will receive an annual fee which covers all the duties that you have carried out on behalf of the University.

You will be paid a basic fee of £320.00 and in addition a workload fee of £50.00 per module. The workload fee will vary depending on the number of modules that you are appointed to. However, the overall fee, with the exception of the additional fees for specific activities below, will be capped at £800.

An additional fee will be paid for:

(i) Resit PAB attendance: £100.00

(ii) Appointment as a Lead External Examiner on a course with more than one External Examiner: £100.00

(iii) Acting as a Mentor for an inexperienced External Examiner: £50.00

(iv) External Examiners moderating 10 or more modules will receeive a single additional payment of £50 per year

No External Examiner will receive less than £320.00 and no more than £800.00 (excluding additional fees and expenses).

Note that for Partner Institutions the fee levels are set by the Partner Institution.

8.3 Why do I need to provide proof of eligibility to work in the UK?

In accordance with legal requirements, the University is required to check that External Examiners are legally entitled to live and work in the United Kingdom (UK) prior to any work being undertaken. External examiners will also be required to have the UK as their main residency throughout their tenure. Therefore, as part of the appointment process you will be asked to complete and return an Acceptance Form and undertake a Right To Work check. This can be done online using the Right to Work Checking Service for Migrants: Prove Your Right to Work for anyone who holds a British Residency Permit or Biometric Residence Card, or who has Settled/Pre-Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme. For UK and EU nationals, we ask that you send us a photo/scan of your original document (e.g your passport), we will then contact you to attend a short Zoom meeting so we can verify your identity and authenticity of the scan.

Please note that fee payments may be significatly delayed without production of these documents/ combination of documents.

8.4 When will I receive payment?

Payments are made on the last working day of the month. However the claim form needs to be processed before the payroll cut-off date in order to be paid the same month. Usually the payroll cut-off date is the middle of the month.

8.5 How do I claim my expenses?

Please complete an expenses claim form with receipts every time you need to claim for expenses (Visitor Expense Form). Expenses cover travel and subsistence expenses:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/finance/forms

Expense claims may be submitted as soon as expenses have been incurred during the course of the academic year.

Please send the completed form to your School and contact them if you have any queries regarding your expenses.

Where an External Examiner has to travel considerable distances, overnight accommodation may be necessary. If accommodation is required, please advise the University as early as possible by contacting the School Office.

Useful Links:

Examination and Assessment Regulations:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/examsandassessment

External Examiner webpages:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/externalexaminers

Electronic Submission and Feedback:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tel/submission

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/examsandassessment/esubmission

Providing evidence of your Right to Work in the UK:

available in section 25 of the Handbook on the policy and procedures for the external examining of taught courses 2021-2022 [PDF 530.42KB])