External Examiners are part of University quality assurance processes and are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from industry, business or the profession, depending what is appropriate for the course. They provide an impartial view of the course and independent advice to ensure courses meet the academic standards and quality expected across the sector.
The University of Essex has two types of External Examiner:
For Essex Pathways, Programme External Examiners follow similar responsibilities to Award External Examiners.
External Examiners for courses at partner institutions are nominated by the partner but approved and paid by the University. For more information about our partnerships, please see our Partnerships website
External Examiners review whether:
The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) have written the UK Quality Code and it is a requirement that all institutions to publish the names, position and institution the external examiner comes from to all students. We publish this information on the module descriptor and programme specifications. External Examiners are in place to provide an independent overview of processes and submit yearly reports on the provision they oversee. Students should not contact External Examiners directly and should instead direct queries to external.examiners@essex.ac.uk. External Examiner reports are discussed in detail at Student Staff Liaison Committee. If students want more information on the role of External Examiners and reports submitted, they can talk to their course representative or Head of Department/School.
External Examiners need not be routinely engaged in Level 4, unless required by Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies. Instead, Externals should be offered the opportunity to request to view Level 4 assessment instruments and sample work if they have concerns.
The External Examiner system is governed by Ordinance 45 of the University of Essex.
Principles governing the role of the Award and Module External Examiners. Please note External Examiners for apprenticeships should also review the supplementary guidance to ensure they are prepared for the specific responsibilities and core duties in relation to examining apprenticeship provision
New courses and developments benefit from independent and impartial input and advice, by providing a comparison with the quality and standards of similar courses and awards elsewhere, and by offering feedback on the course and module design. External Examiners are therefore usually consulted over developments and are asked to comment during the development process and/or in the annual report.
Feedback from the External Examiner is required for all category 1 new course proposals. Category 1 courses are constructed entirely from existing provision or a small number of new modules.
In most instances, review of category 1 new course materials is considered to be a component of an External Examiner's core roles and responsibilities and is encompassed within the agreed annual fee. In the rare situations where new course materials are seen to represent a substantial increase in workload for an External Examiner, a discretionary additional payment of may be made. The allocation of an additional fee is to ensure parity of workload and pay for External Examiners across the University of Essex, and its allocation will be determined by QUAD in consultation with the External Examiner's appointing Department.
External Examiners who oversee January-start provision have additional considerations on their reporting timeline.
External Examiners who oversee both October-start and January-start provision will submit their report considering all October provision and the January provision to date within 4 weeks after their final October provision Exam Board.
This report will feed into the UG Overview or PG Overview of feedback raised in External Examiner reports.
The report will be left open for further comment once the annual cycle and Exam Board for January provision has been completed. The External Examiner should then update the report with any further comments after reviewing the remaining January-start provision and attending the final January-start Exam Board.
The External Examiner will be paid upon receipt of the final comments after the January-start Board.
Additional comments on January-start provision will feed into the next reporting point where appropriate.
External Examiners who oversee January-start provision only will submit their report 4 weeks after the final Exam Board.
They will be paid upon receipt of their annual report.
Comments from the annual report will feed into the next reporting point where appropriate.