External examining

Documents

Appointment of External Examiners

Appoinment of New External Examiners

Taught Programme

External Examiners for taught programmes are appointed to a standard four year tenure. New appointments must meet the guidance laid out in the UK Quality Code. 

All nominations must be submitted to external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk using the form below for approval by the Vice Provost for Education, following departmental endorsement.

For queries about appointment of taught programme examiners, please contact external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk 

Research Degree

For guidance relating to appointment of Research Degree examiners please click here or contact research.degree@imperial.ac.uk

Induction of New Taught Programme External Examiners

The Quality Assurance Team will organise induction days between November and February for newly appointed taught programme External Examiners, and those who did not have the opportunity to join a session in their first year. A provisional agenda for these sessions is below:

Forthcoming Induction Days:

  • Wednesday 22 January 2020
  • Monday 24 February 2020

To book a place on an induction please email external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk 

Departments may find the following documents useful for new taught programme External Examiners:

Key Guidance Documents for External Examiners

Please find in the document below key information that you should be provided with once appointed, as agreed by the College Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee (QAEC).

Key information for external examiners

External Examiner Roles and Responsibilities
Conduct of Boards of Examiners Meetings
Useful Weblinks 
Higher Education Acronyms and Terms (Apr 19)

External Examiner Expenses

The College will refund reasonable expenses incurred by our External Examiners in the course of completing their duties. Guidance is available in the claims form below.

 Claiming External Examiner Expenses
Hotel Accomodation
  • Imperial offers a hotel reservations service for those visiting the College on business. They can assist with finding rooms close to our campuses for reasonable rates. For more information please click the link: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/visitors-accommodation/local-hotels/
  • If you are attending the College in your role as External Examiner, and wish to reserve one of these room, please liaise with the Reservations Team by email to make your provisional booking, and copy in external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk . We can then arrange payment to the hotel directly on your behalf.

External Examiner Reports

Report Templates for Annual Reports

External Examiners for taught programmes are required to submit an Annual Report per year for each of the programmes which they examine. Where it is possible to do so, for example where you are appointed to examine a core programme with multiple pathways (year abroad, year in industry, with management etc.), the report can include all provision. If so, please ensure that where there may be specific considerations for a pathway or award that this is clearly signposted.

All reports should be submitted within one month following the Final Exam Board.

For 2018-19 we are moving to an electronic External Examiner Report Form for our external examiners, which can be accessed below. Please ensure you submit your responses via this portal.

The online report is multiplatform, and can be completed on a desktop computer, laptop, iPad or mobile phone.

As long as you use the same device, the system will store your responses so far and allow you to return to the same point in the survey, so you don’t have to complete in one sitting. (Your answers will not be available to view by the QA team until you press the final arrow at the end).

Forward and back buttons enable you to return to previously completed sections and check or amend your answers.

If you encounter any problems please let the team know at external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk . Please could we ask you to submit your report within one month of the exam board meeting.

Please note that reports will be shared with staff and students across the College, and may be disclosed in response to Freedom of Information requests. Copies may also be shared with professional, regulatory and statutory bodies and the QAA. Therefore there should be no identifiable reference to individual students or staff members, either by name or CID number, to ensure confidentiality is maintained.

Fee payments will only be made upon submission of the annual report. The College reserves the right under the agreed terms and conditions to terminate an appointment, where a satisfactory report has not been submitted.

How Your Report is Considered

Once submitted, your report will be analysed by the QA team and the relevant Department/Faculty. Responses are considered in the following ways:

  • The Department will respond to your individual report. Their comments, along with a copy of your report, will be provided to you in a PDF document.
  • The QA Team will review all the reports for common themes and areas of concern. A summary of these themes and recommendations arising will be submitted to the College’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee (QAEC). A copy of the summary report will be sent to you along with the Department’s response to your individual feedback (as above).
  • The Department will include any actions arising from your annual report in the action plan for their undergraduate annual monitoring report, which is subsequently reviewed and tracked at Departmental, Faculty and College level. 
Serious Concerns

The College recognises that on occasion External Examiners may have a particular concern which they wish to raise outside of the general reporting arrangements. Further details are available below:

Contact Us

For queries relating to taught programme examiners [BSc, MSci, MSc, BEng, MEng, MRes, MA, MEd, PG Cert, PG Dip, MBBS, I-Explore/Horizons and BPES] please contact external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk

For queries relating to research degree examiners [PhD, MPhil, MD-Res and EngD] please contact research.degree@imperial.ac.uk