Academic quality
External examiners
Information about external examiners appointed by York St John University, including the nomination process, details of the examiner role, and payments.
External examiners have a key role in maintaining academic standards and assuring and enhancing quality.
As independent professionals, external examiners provide assurance regarding the comparability of standards within the UK.
Detailed information about the role of external examiner at York St John University is set out in Section 39 of our Code of Practice for Assessment.
The following documents provide a timeline of key responsibilities:
- Undergraduate External Examiner Timeline (PDF, 0.1 MB)
- Postgraduate External Examiner Timeline (PDF, 0.1 MB)
You can also download and view a list of our external examiners and our privacy notice:
Nomination and appointment
External examiners must be appointed for all provision leading to a higher education award, including those offered through collaboration with external partners.
The appointment criteria are included in the Code of Practice and in the appendix to the nomination form.
Use the drop-down below for information on the appointment process.
The external examiner nomination process uses the following steps:
- Academic school identifies a nominee and completes the external examiner nomination form.
- The nomination must be approved by the School Quality Panel before being submitted to Registry: externalexaminers@yorksj.ac.uk.
- The External Examiner Nomination Scrutiny Panel (a sub group of the Quality and Standards Committee) will consider the nomination and make the decision to appoint or not.
Nomination forms:
- External Examiner Nomination Form (DOC, 42.3kB)
- Collaborative Partner External Examiner Nomination Form (DOC, 79kB)
Academic schools nominating examiners without previous experience will be required to provide details of appropriate support, for example, mentoring for their first year of appointment, particularly for those from a non-UK Higher Education background. Schools are responsible for identifying a suitable mentor.
External examiners are usually appointed for a period of 4 years. Exceptionally, for example where a programme will only be running for 1 further year, this cycle may be extended by 1 year.
Requests can also be made to extend or change the remit of a current external examiner where appropriate. These requests will be considered by the external examiner nomination scrutiny panel.
Extension request forms:
Once the appointment has been approved, the Registry team will send the appointment email to the examiner. This will be accompanied by a link to the external examiner induction site.
Following appointment, external examiners are provided with the following materials by the Academic Quality team in Registry:
- Appointment email
- Link to external examiner induction site
- Link to Code of Practice for Assessment
- Information on fees, expenses and expenses claim forms
- Previous external examiner reports, where relevant
The following materials are provided by the academic school:
- Module and programme documentation including the relevant programme specification(s) and module specifications
- Information on school or partner institution specific dates
- School or partner institution specific assessment information including marking criteria (through Moodle)
- An update on programme developments
- Annual assessment schedule (once finalised)
Information shared with students
Information on the University's external examiners, including their names and institutions, is available on the University's website. Students are provided with this information, and information on the external examining system, in relevant academic school information and on Moodle. It is made clear to students that it is not appropriate for them to contact external examiners directly. External examiners must refer any direct contact received from students to the University.
External examiners' reports are shared in full with students. This is normally done through the University's virtual learning environment, Moodle.
Further information
The external examiner role
Details of the external examiner role, including induction, working with Moodle, assessment boards, and reports.
Payment
Information on payment amounts and expenses for external examiners.
