Role and responsibilities of external examiners

The roles and responsibilities of external examiners for taught degrees and MSc(Res) and MSt(Res) degrees are outlined below.

With support from the Academic School with which they are working, External examiners must become familiar with the structure, learning and teaching methods, and assessment techniques for their assigned modules and programmes. They must provide advice to the module and programme coordinators and recommend change where appropriate.

External examiners should become familiar with the information provided in the following links. Registry can provide printed copies if requested.

External examining policy (undergraduate and postgraduate taught) - outlines the processes and procedures relating to the role of external examiners for taught programmes.
External Examiner guidance: Sharing undergraduate and postgraduate external examiner reports
Undergraduate Senate regulations
Postgraduate Senate regulations

For further policies and documentation, see the Governance Zone (Academic policies).

- Academic Registry: The Academic Registry provides all new external examiners with relevant information and support to enable them to carry out their duties effectively, including links to: The University’s External Examining policy; guidance on how reports are shared with students; Senate Regulations; the Higher Education External Examining handbook; and guidance on the deferment of Class 1 National Insurance contributions. Annual reports deadlines are also provided.
- Academic Schools: The Academic Schools provide induction and briefing on School-specific policies, procedures and regulations. This short document provides an overview of the minimum information that Schools will provide to their examiners.
- Associate Deans/Provost Education: The Associate Deans Education and Associate Provost Education host an optional one-hour online Q&A session for all examiners during semester 1 to support them in their roles. Information on when this will occur can be found in the annual letter to External Examiners from the Vice-Principal Education (Proctor).
- National Standards in Learning and Teaching: National standards of learning and teaching for Higher Education institutions in Scotland are set out in national subject benchmark statements, the national qualifications frameworks and the UK Quality Code.
- External development opportunities: External development opportunities that may be of interest to examiners are provided by Advance HE's External Examiners course and QAA’s advice on Education for sustainable development.
External examiners for taught degrees are required to complete an annual report commenting on the appropriateness of the standards of the assessments that they have examined.

External examiners must submit the annual report by:
- 30 July for undergraduate programmes
- 4 November for taught postgraduate programmes.
In the final year of appointment, external examiners must provide additional information in their report, including:
- an overview of the provision throughout the appointment
- the standards of awards
- any wider issues to which the University should give consideration.
This final-year report will be provided to the outgoing external examiner's successor.

Sharing Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught External Examiner Reports

External Examiners’ reports are made available to all staff and students in each School/Department. External Examiners should therefore not identify specific individuals in their reports, though reference to individual modules is acceptable where this is appropriate.
Each thesis will be assessed by at least two internal examiners. All outcomes will be moderated by an external examiner. Normally, this should happen before the student has been notified of the outcome, which will be recommended by the School for approval by the Associate Provost (Students) on behalf of the Assistant Vice-Principal (Provost).

Schools are expected to use any of their current undergraduate or taught postgraduate external examiners for MSc (Res) and MSt (Res) theses.

For MSc (Res) and MSt (Res), the role of the external examiner is to:
- monitor assessment standards and the quality of the internal examiners' reports
- submit a short report commenting on the above (a single report for all theses and reports moderated by each examiner is fine)
- provide advice on problematic cases that cannot be resolved within the School (i.e. the internal examiners do not agree on their recommendations). The final recommendation will be made by the School.
External examiners should become familiar with the information provided in the following links. Registry can provide printed copies if requested.
- Assessment of postgraduate research students policy – details the rules and regulations governing the assessment of postgraduate research students Postgraduate Senate regulations
For further policies and documentation, see the Governance Zone (Academic policies).

Role and responsibilities of external examiners

Induction, briefing and support for external examiners

Annual reports

Annual letter to external examiners

MSc/MSt by research degrees

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