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Quality Gateway

Information for External Examiners

External Examiners have a fundamental 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.

The role of External Examiner

The UK Quality Code Advice and Guidance: External Expertise (PDF, 1,4MB) sets the national context for the operation of this role.

Detailed information about the role of External Examiner at York St John University is set out in Section 42 of the Code of Practice for Assessment document.

The following documents provide a timeline of key responsibilities:

Induction to the role

We greatly appreciate the time of all colleagues who work with us as External Examiners. To support you in the role we normally hold an annual External Examiners' briefing in the Autumn term.

The presentations from our January briefing are available below:

Recording of External Examiner Briefing January 2025

External Examiners with no previous experience of the role will be appointed a mentor in their first year of appointment. The role of the mentor is set out in the following document together with a report template which should be completed and submitted by the mentor:

Role of the External Examiner Mentor and Report Template (doc, 44KB)

University and programme information

It is important for External Examiners to understand our regulations and how they may differ from those at their home institutions. You can take a look at these by visiting the regulations area of our website.

All the University assessment policies and procedures are collated in the Code of Practice for Assessment, and External Examiners should use the Code as a reference document in their role.

For programme-specific documentation, you can take a look at our:

Moodle

Moodle is York St John University's virtual learning environment. This is an online resource where students can find resources, prompts to self-directed learning, a week to week layout of their modules and submit their assignments.

External Examiners will need to engage with Moodle as part of the assessment process. Moodle also provides External Examiners with the opportunity to engage directly with teaching materials and learning support.

Please refer to the document Technology Enhanced Learning pages have further support and information for External Examiners regarding how to access and use Moodle

Reporting

We ask all External Examiners to produce a report each year.

York St John University has a generic report form for this process. Please note that, in accordance with national guidelines, these reports are shared with students in full.

External Examiners are reminded that they may make separate and confidential reports to the Vice Chancellor on any matter of serious concern.

Please note that the forms must be completed in one session. The questions are provided in the word documents below for information prior to completing the online form:

External Examiner Report:

Regulatory External Examiner Report:

Submission dates

External Examiner Reports should be submitted no later than:

  • 1 August for programmes examined in summer.
  • 1 November for programmes examined in September or October.

The Regulatory External Examiner report should be submitted by 1 November.

The link to the online report forms closes on 31 January.

Payment and expenses

Information regarding payment and expenses is available on the Payment for External Examiners page. If you have any queries please contact your Programme Administration and Support Services (PASS) administrator.

Privacy notice

Privacy Notice External Examiners (DOCx, 24.6 KB)