ANNEX C - Policyfor External Examining of Taught Programmes

ANNEX C - Policyfor External Examining of Taught Programmes

Academic Quality & Policy Office

This form is designed to be completed and submitted electronically, with electronic signatures.

If there are any questions with regards to the form, please contact or tel: 0117 42 82931.

Please arrange for the nominee to be considered and appointed as an external examiner.

SECTION A - THE NOMINEE’S DETAILS (to be completed by the nominee)

SECTION B - NATURE AND PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT (to be completed by the school)

1. Please give full details of the award/s, programme/s, unit/s to be covered by the external examiner

2. Level at which the external examiner will be working(please delete, strike-through or tick as appropriate)

3. The normal period of appointment is four years, (except for examiners covering the MBChB, BDSand BVSc where the normal appointment period is five years).

Please indicate above if the appointment should be for a lesser period than the normal four (or five) years.

ANNEX C - Policyfor External Examining of Taught Programmes

SECTION C – ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION (to be completed by the school)

1. If the new appointee is directly replacing another external whose appointment is ending please give the name of the outgoing external examiner below:

2. Please give the name of an appropriate contact person within the school to whom we should direct the external examiner:

3. Copies of external examiners’ reports are sent to a) Head of School; b) Director of Teaching and Learning or Head of Education orthe Programme Director(s); and c) relevant School Administrator(s).Please provide details:(add extra lines as required):

4. Please enter the annual fee to be paid to the external examiner and the name of the person who should be sent the completed fee/expense claim form. The fee is set at the discretion of the school; it may be subject dependent or based on the University guidelines,

SECTION D – APPOINTMENT CRITERIA (to be read & agreed by all parties signing section G)

For quality assurance purposes the University must be satisfied that the nominee is appropriate for the post. Schools and nominated external examiners should ensure that the appointment fulfils the criteria as set out in the extract from the Policy for External Examining of Taught Programmes in Appendix 1.

The following statements must be agreed by the nominated external examiner, the Head of School (or nominee) and the Faculty Dean (or nominee).Please note that exceptions may be allowed under 5 below.

1: Person specification

The nominated external examiner meets the person specification criteria.

A copy of the nominee’s CV or a completed Appendix 2 must be attached. If the nominee has retired, he or she must provide sufficient evidence in Appendix 2 of continuing involvement in the subject area and with current developments in higher education learning, teaching and assessment.

2: Number of appointments

The nominated external examiner does not hold an unreasonable number of other external examiner appointments (recommended that there are no more than two appointments at any one time).

3: Avoiding reciprocal and long-standing arrangements

The nominated external examiner does not come from the same department in the same institution as the outgoing external examiner or as any other external examiner covering the programme(s).

The appointment does not create a reciprocal arrangement with a cognate programme at another institution.

4: Conflicts of interest

Any conflicts of interest that may prevent the nominated external examiner from being able to undertake the role are declared in Section E.

5: Exceptions and special cases

Any legitimate reasons for exceptions and special cases with regards to the appointment criteria are declared in Section F.

SECTION E – CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (to be completed by the nominee, school and/or faculty)

Please refer to the extract on conflicts of interest from the Policy for External Examining of Taught Programmes in Appendix 1.

SECTION F – EXCEPTIONS AND SPECIAL CASES (to be completed by the school and/or faculty)

Please refer to the extract on exceptions and special cases from the Policy for External Examining of Taught Programmes in Appendix 1.

The Faculty Board must give close consideration to this section before giving approval to the nomination. The University Academic Quality and Standards Committee will maintain an overviewat University level of all cases where approval of exceptions and special cases have been given.

SECTION G – AGREEMENT TO APPOINT (to be completed by the nominee, school & faculty)

This form can be completed electronically, and electronic signatures are permissible.

All parties should indicate their approval of the nomination and their acceptance that the nominee meets the appointment criteria by signing below.

(Faculty approval can be given at any time and then the appointment reported to Faculty Board)

Once all the boxes have been signed and the nomination form has been approved by the Faculty, the completed form must be sentby email to the Academic Quality & Policy Officeat

AQPO will then email the external examiner anappointment letter, and a copy will also be sent to the designatedSchool Administrator.

Appendix 1

The Appointment Criteria for External Examiners

1: Person specification (Sections 1.4 and 1.5 of the Policy)

An external examiner should meet the following criteria:

a)Knowledge and understanding of UK academic standards and of the assurance and enhancement of quality;

b)Relevant academic qualifications, or where appropriate professional qualifications and/or extensive practitioner experience;

c)Breadth of knowledge and standing within the subject to demonstrate credibility to peers;

d)Competence and experience in the areas covered by the programme (or parts thereof) and of assessment methods appropriate to the subject;

e)Competence and experience of the standards expected of students to achieve the award and of the enhancement of the student learning experience;

f)Awareness of current developments in curricula design and delivery;

g)Fluency in English, and for programmes that are delivered and assessed in languages other than English, fluency in the relevant language(s); and

h)Where appropriate, any additional criteria set by professional, statutory or regulatory bodies.

Individuals who have retired may be appointed but they should provide sufficient evidence of continuing involvement in the academic area in question, and with current developments in higher education learning, teaching and assessment.

2: Number of appointments held by the nominee (Section 1.6)

The school must check that the incoming external examiner should not hold an unreasonable number of other external examiner appointments. It is recommended that there should not be more than two appointments at any one time.

3: Avoiding reciprocal and long-standing arrangements (Sections 1.7 to 1.10)

It is important for schools to ensure that they do not put in place reciprocal arrangements between cognate programmes with another institution. Schools must refer to the list detailing where their own staff act as external examiners, to avoid this occurring.

The Head of School is responsible for ensuring an accurate record is kept of the institutions where school members of staff are currently acting as external examiners. This list should be available upon request.

Where there is more than one external examiner covering a programme/s, the incoming external examiner should not be from the same department in the same institution as any other external examiner covering the programme/s.

The incoming external examiner should not be from the same department in the same institution as the outgoing external examiner.

4: Conflicts of interest(Sections 1.11 to 1.13)

The nominated external examiner and members of the school involved in the nomination should declare, using the Nomination Form, any conflicts of interests that should be given due consideration before the nominated external examiner can be formally appointed; these include:

a)Significant involvement in recent or current substantive collaborative research activities with a member of staff closely involved in the delivery, management or assessment of the programme(s) or modules in question

b)Having a near relative as student or member of staff in the school

c)Personal association with sponsorship of students in the school

d)Involvement in assessing colleagues who are recruited as students to the programme

e)Holding a position which may have significant influence on the future of students on the programme

f)Membership of the University of Bristol Court or Council

g)Employment with one of the University’s collaborative partners

The incoming external examiner should not have been an external examiner for a taught programme at the University of Bristol for at least five years.Former staff (including those with honorary appointments) and students of the University of Bristol can only be appointed as external examiners after a lapse of at least five years.

5: Exceptions and special cases(Sections 1.13 and 1.14)

Where there is a legitimate reason for making an appointment that does not fulfil all of the criteria for appointment, the details should be set out in the Nomination Form and approved by the Faculty Board. This consideration may be assisted where there are other external examiners on a programme, so that the proposed appointee’s expertise is complemented by that of others. Where a proposed appointee does not fully fit the criteria, appropriate induction and support should be provided.

There may be exceptions when addressing nominations for external examiners in small and specialist subjects where the pool of potential external examiners is limited. This should be set out in the Nomination Form and approved by the Faculty Board.

Appendix 2

This form should be completed by the nominated external examiner if they do not wish to submit a CV. Retired staff should provide sufficient evidence of continuing involvement in the academic area in question, and with current developments in higher education learning, teaching and assessment.

[1] Note: Use of the word school in this document can also relate to departments or centres.