External examining

Following successful nomination, external examiners are appointed for a four year period of office. This is not normally exceeded, but may be extended exceptionally for a further year. Consideration may also be given to reallocating external examiner's duties. Occasionally, examiner appointments may be terminated if it is judged that the responsibilities of the appointment had not been met, or cannot be fulfilled in the manner or to the standard to which the university requires.

Please refer to the guide to external examining at DMU for full details on the process for appointing an external examiner, as well as guidance for identifying potential examiners and the appointment criteria.

Nominating and appointing

The authority for appointing external examiners rests solely with the Academic Board, which may, however, delegate this responsibility to the Quality Sub-Committee (QSC). This in turn is delegated to the External Examiners and External Roles Appointments Panel (EEERAP).

Selection and appointment criteria

In appointing external examiners, the QSC shall have regard to: academic standing and examining experience; volume of work; independence and impartiality; members and former members of De Montfort University staff; and period of office. Please see the guide for full details of the appointment criteria – programme teams and faculties need to ensure that this criteria has been met when nominating external examiners.

Eligibility to work in the UK

In order for the university to comply with its legal duties under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act (2006) checks that all external examiners are eligible to work in the UK must be conducted. To avoid any possibility of racial discrimination this documentation is required from everyone, even if they are a UK or European Economic Area (EEA) citizen.

Once their appointment has been approved and before any work is commenced, examiners must provide the university with documentation which evidences their right to work in the UK (see the guide for details). It is strongly advised that when staff members approach suitable candidates, they should also mention to the candidate that they will be required to provide evidence of their eligibility to work in the UK.

Nomination

It is imperative that the selection and appointment criteria is read prior to the faculty completing the necessary nomination form – colleagues should also be aware of the checks undertaken to ensure external examiners are eligible to work in the UK. Failure to fully consider this information may result in nominations not being approved by the appointments committee – this will invariably slow the process up.

Extension/reallocation of duties

In exceptional circumstances, applications for extensions of appointment length for one year only will be considered by the appointments committee e.g., during a transitional phase or to ensure continuity within the examining team. A reallocation of duties i.e., to include further or new modules/programmes will also be considered.

Terminating appointments

The appointment of an external examiner may be terminated by the Academic Board if it judges that the responsibilities of the appointment have not been, or cannot be, fulfilled in the manner or to the standard to which the university requires.

External examiners act as independent and impartial advisers, providing informed comment on the standards set and student achievement in relation to those standards. They ensure that awards granted by the university are comparable in standard to those of other higher education institutions, that national subject threshold standards are complied with, and that the treatment of students is equitable and fair.

External examiners are specifically required to scrutinise and advise on the following:

• Curriculum development and design: the currency, relevance and coherence of curricular material
• Standards: that learning materials and learning outcomes are appropriate to curricula and that students are able to achieve standards comparable with those elsewhere and comparable to subject and level threshold requirements
• Assessment: that assessment aims and objectives are appropriate, the purposes and philosophy of assessment are clearly articulated and understood, that the load of assessment is appropriate and assessment is properly and impartially conducted

Please see the guide to external examining at DMU for detailed information on the role and responsibilities of external examiners in relation to: participation in assessment; scheme and regulations; specific functions; meeting with students; and submitting written reports.

Newly appointed external examiners are provided with extensive guidance and support to assist them in undertaking their role. In addition to briefing sessions which aim to cover the role of external examiner at DMU, a considerable amount of information is sent outlining specific local requirements as well as generic university regulations.

External examiners may also be asked to act as a mentor to newly appointed examiners. Guidance on this, alongside full details on the information sent by the university upon confirmation of appointment can be found in the guide to external examining at DMU.

External examiner briefing

Before the start of their duties, external examiners are briefed by the faculty on the role and responsibilities and provided with information as set out in the documentation checklist.

External examiners may need to access the Learning Zone which is DMU’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The Learning Zone can be used to view learning materials and also in some cases students’ work. Usernames and passwords are sent to external examiners by email from the Department of Academic Quality at the start of the appointment. If external examiners are unable to gain access, please contact the ITMS Service Desk by email at itmsservicedesk@dmu.ac.uk, or by phone between 9am - 5pm on 0116 250 6050.

Briefing sessions

The university holds briefing sessions in the spring term for external examiners who have recently been appointed. Invitations are issued in the autumn term. The aim of these sessions is to receive information on the role of the external examiner at DMU, as well as looking at the undergraduate and postgraduate scheme and associated regulations, the board structure and faculty operations.

• The presentation from the 2023/24 briefing session is available online.

The key role for an external examiner is completion of a written report which should not only celebrate the positive aspects of programmes, but also give specific recommendations for actions. It is essential that reports contain clear information on academic standards and advise on good practice, innovation and areas for enhancement.

These written reports should be submitted annually at the end of the academic year and at the end of their period of office, within one month after the main assessment board (usually in the summer). Fees are paid on receipt of a report when accompanied by a claim form which must be completed even if examiners have not incurred any expenses.

Please refer to the guide to external examining at DMU and the guidance for external examiners on good practice for further details on producing and submitting written reports, along with additional information about how reports are processed and action that arises from their receipt, as well as what happens to reports of a serious nature.

Submitting written reports

External examiners are required to submit written reports annually and at the end of their periods of office, using the correct MS Form link. There will be a different link for each academic session. For 2023/24 please use the following: https://forms.office.com/e/6x7bXUaCF

IMPORTANT: examiners cannot save their progress on the MS Form report proforma; the form must be completed and submitted in one go. A Word version of the form will be provided if examiners prefer to work on the questions offline in their own time. The template can be used to preview the questions, prepare answers, and then copy and paste into the MS Form when ready. The Word template should not be submitted. Please contact qaenquiries@dmu.ac.uk for a copy of the Word template.

For Asia Pacific University (APU), please use the APU report proforma and email the report directly to qaenquiries@dmu.ac.uk.

Please refer to the opening section of the report proforma for the key points to note when completing the written report.

All guidance material and forms relating to external examining can be found in the Guidance and forms section below.

How reports are processed

Each report is logged by the Quality Officer (External Examiners/Awarding Bodies) who is responsible for the administration of external examiner records within DAQ. Most reports will be shared with key Faculty staff and relevant collaborative partners within five working days of receipt of the report.

Reports of a serious nature

When an issue of serious concern is noted in an external examiner report the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education & Equalities and Head of Academic Quality will ensure that an appropriate response is received from the faculty.

If an external examiner has serious concerns about issues related to standards within the institution, and has exhausted all internal procedures including a confidential report to the Vice-Chancellor, they should access the independent mechanism for addressing concerns about standards and quality in higher education managed by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).

Action arising from external examiner reports

The guide to external examining includes details on how external examiners reports are dealt with. An external examiner response template has been devised to aid consistency and improve the quality of the detailed responses to external examiners’ reports. Use of this template is optional.

Findings from external examiner reports

The Quality Officer (External Examiners/Awarding Bodies) provides the Quality Sub-Committee (QSC) with an overview report which highlights areas for improvement and strengths across all faculties and subject areas to enable key issues to be monitored at university level from year to year. Copies of this report can be obtained from DAQ.

External examiners are paid an annual fee plus visit fees and reimbursement of expenses, as appropriate. Payment is made upon receipt of a written report. A claim form must be completed, even if examiners have not incurred any expenses. The payment of all fees and expenses are managed by the relevant faculty office.

This information covers taught programmes only. For information on research external examiner fees, please contact the Doctoral College. The relevant faculty office should be contacted with any queries about fee or expenses payments.

Fee and expenses payment

Fee information is available, which details the current rates of payment for work carried-out by external examiners, including visits. The annual fee is paid on receipt of an external examiners report and also on submission of the claim form even if examiners have not incurred any expenses. If examiners have incurred expenses, one form will suffice. All claim forms should be received within three months of the visit/report submission. The fees are taxed in the normal way through PAYE. To claim back expenses, an itemized receipt must be provided. If itemized receipts or travel tickets are not provided, under HMRC rules, expenses will be taxed.

Completing the claim form

Examiners are required to use their home address and personal email address on the claim form, the programme title (not just the programme code), the purpose of their visit along with dates and their signature on the second page. If examiners are claiming for a fee only and have not made any visits to the university or partners, not applicable should be added in this box. Missing information on the form may result in a delay in payment. Examiners are advised to keep a copy of their claim form and receipts.

What happens next?

Once completed, the form should be sent to the faculty finance administrator in the first instance. Payments are made on the 25th of each month (or the closest working day). In order for these to be processed in time, the form will need to be submitted to the faculty finance administrator by the 25th of the previous month. Forms received after this date will be paid the following month. All completed forms must be submitted within three months of the claim date. Once the payment has been made, external examiners can access DMUhub to view payslips.

The faculty Finance Administrator is responsible for processing external examiner claim forms.

Claim forms and receipts should be emailed to the appropriate contact below.

If you experience any difficulties completing the claim form in Microsoft Edge, we recommend using a different web browser (e.g. Chrome or Internet Explorer), or open the claim form directly in Adobe Acrobat or another compatible program.

Contacts

Faculty	School	Contact
Art, Design and Humanities	Arts, Design and Architecture (ADA)	adhadmin-ada@dmu.ac.uk
	Fashion and Textiles (FT)	adhadmin-ft@dmu.ac.uk
	Humanities and Performing Arts (HPA)	adhadmin-hpa@dmu.ac.uk
Business and Law	All schools	Sophia Welton (0116) 207 8389 swelton@dmu.ac.uk
Computing, Engineering and Media	Computer Science and Informatics (CSI) (undergraduate)	Sally Pick (Acting) (0116) 207 8524 spick@dmu.ac.uk
	Engineering and Sustainable Development (ESD) (undergraduate) and Leicester Media School (LMS) (undergraduate)	Chris Voss (0116) 207 8936 chris.voss@dmu.ac.uk
	All schools (postgraduate) and UK partners	Tracey Harris (0116) 207 8465 tracey@dmu.ac.uk
Health and Life Sciences	All schools	hlsquality@dmu.ac.uk
Educational Partnerships		ep@dmu.ac.uk

All guidance material and forms relating to external examining are presented together here, in process order.

For further information or for queries, please contact Louise Newell.

General guidance

• Quick start guide: Provides an overview to the external examining process and includes some useful resources
• Guide to external examining at DMU: This guide offers information on the appointment of external examiners, report completion, and roles and responsibilities

Nomination, extension and reallocation

Please complete the forms below electronically and email to key members of the faculty executive for internal approval, prior to formal consideration by the External Examiners and External Roles Appointments Panel.

Nominating external examiners

• Undergraduate and postgraduate external examiner nomination form: For the nomination of an undergraduate or postgraduate external examiners

Extending and reallocating external examiner duties

• Undergraduate and postgraduate external examiner extension and reallocation of duties form: For the approval of an extension of time, or a reallocation of duties, for a current external examiner to either undergraduate or postgraduate taught programmes

Training and support

• Documentation checklist (general): This documentation checklist provides a list of information that the external examiners may need.
• Documentation checklist (DMU-APU provision): This documentation checklist provides a list of information that the external examiners associated to APU provision may need.
• 2023/24 briefing session presentation: This presentation offers a useful resource detailing the DMU context, scheme and regulations, to support external examiners with their role and responsibilities

Confirmation of decisions

• Undergraduate external examiner sign off sheet: To be completed by the relevant external examiner
• Postgraduate external examiner sign off sheet: To be completed by the relevant external examiner

Submitting written reports

Please use the correct MS Form link. There will be a different link for each academic session. For 2023/24 please use the following: https://forms.office.com/e/6x7bXUaCF

IMPORTANT: examiners cannot save their progress on the MS Form report proforma; the form must be completed and submitted in one go. A Word version of the form will be provided if examiners prefer to work on the questions offline in their own time. The template can be used to preview the questions, prepare answers, and then copy and paste into the MS Form when ready. The Word template should not be submitted. Please contact qaenquiries@dmu.ac.uk for a copy of the Word template.

For Asia Pacific University (APU), please use the APU report proforma and email the report directly to qaenquiries@dmu.ac.uk.

Once submitted, examiners should complete the claim form under the fees and expenses section below.

Responding to written reports

• External examiner response template: This template has been devised to aid consistency and improve the quality of the detailed responses to external examiners' reports. Its use is optional

Fees and expenses

• Fee information: Details current rates of payment for the work carried-out by external examiners, including visits
• Claim form: Expenses and fee claim form for external examiners. The mileage rate for private cars is 45p per mile
• Accessing your payslip: Guidance on how to access DMUhub to view external examiner payslips and P60s