External examining

Documents

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 assessment.records@imperial.ac.uk

Induction of New Taught Programme External Examiners

The Quality Assurance Team will organise online induction briefings for newly appointed taught programme External Examiners.

Departments may find the following documents useful for new taught programme 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
Boards of Examiners Policies
Useful Weblinks 
Higher Education Acronyms and Terms (Apr 19)

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

External Examiner Expense Claim Form (Taught Programmes) (version June 2024) [BSc, BEng, MSci, MEng, MSc, MPH, MA, MEd, MRes, PG Cert, PG Dip, MBBS, I-Explore/Horizons and BPES]

External Examiner Expense Claim Form (Research Programmes) (version June 2024) [PhD, MPhil, MDRes, EngD]

‌Please ensure that all claim forms are emailed to external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk as a word document, along with pdf copies of your receipts. 


This section relates to undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes including MRes programmes. External Examiners for Research Degree viva examinations please check your initial appointment email for the necessary forms, or if you cannot locate this, please contact
assessment.records@imperial.ac.uk .
 
Report Templates for Taught Programme Annual Reports

External Examiners for taught programmes are required to submit one 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.

2023-24 External Examiner Annual Reports

External Examiner reports must be sumbitted via our online portal (Forms). Please select the appropriate link below to submit your report. If you would like confirmation of which report template to complete, please contact the team on external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk

Undergraduate Programmes

This report template is for all examiners considering undergraduate programmes in the Faculties of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Imperial College Business School, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication and for all standalone Bachelor programmes in the Faculty of Medicine. Examiners for the MBBS programme that only consider phases 1a, 1b (Year 1 or Year 2) or the Intergrated Bachelor pathways (phase 2, "year 4") should also use this form.

This report template should only be used by examiners that are considering phase 1c (year 3) or phase 3 (Years 5 and 6) of the MBBS programme.

This report template should only be used by examiners that cover both clincial and non-clinical stages of the MBBS programme. It combines the relevant information from each verion of the 2 reports above.

Postgraduate Programmes

This report template should be used by those examining all postgratute taught programmes at Imperial.

 
Report information

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

Next and back buttons enable you to return to previously completed sections and check or amend your answers. Once you have submitted your responses, you will be given the oportunity to save your responses, by clicking on the 'save my response to edit' box.

The system should store your responses each time you click to a new page, and you to return to the same point in the survey, so you don’t have to complete in one sitting. Please note this will require tracking cookies to be enabled on your machine.

If you are having any difficulties in completing your report, please contact external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk. 

Please note that reports will be shared with staff and students across the University, and may be disclosed in response to Freedom of Information requests. Copies may also be shared with Professional, Regulatory and Statutory Bodies (PSRBSs), accrediting bodies, and the Office for Students as required. 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 University 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 University’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 University level. 
Serious Concerns

The University 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:

The following forms should be used for the examination of research degree programmes. For reports relating to MRes provision please see the section 'External Examiner Reports for Taught Programmes' above.

EngD Examiners Report Form [doc]

PhD Examiners Report Form  [doc]

MDRes Examiners Report Form [doc]

MPhil Examiners Report Form [doc]

The College also requires each examiner to provide a preliminary report on the thesis, alongside a final joint examiners report. The College has no requirement with regards to the format of these reports, however the below templates can be used if preferred: 

Joint Final Report Template ‌ [doc]‌

Preliminary Report - External Examiner Template [doc]‌

Preliminary Report - Internal Examiner Template‌

There is further information for research degree examiners in the 'Key Guidance Documents for External Examiners' and 'External Examiner Expenses' sections on this page. 

Please use the 'Contact Us' section if you need further information about Research Degree examinations.

Annual Summary Reports

The Quality Assurance and Enhancement Team reviews all reports received from the External Examiners. Common themes, trends and areas of reported good practice are identified for inclusion in a University-level summary report, one for undergraduate and one for postgraduate taught provision. These reports are considered by the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee and the summaries for the last five years are published for the consideration for the University Community. A university login is required to access the reports.

If you have any issues accessing the reports, please contact external.examiner@imperial.ac.uk 

2022/2023

2022-2023 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Undergraduate)

2022-2023 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Postrgraduate)

2021/2022

2021-2022 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Undergraduate)

2021-2022 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Postgraduate)

2020/2021

2020-2021 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Undergraduate)

2020-2021 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Postgraduate)

2019/2020

2019-2020 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Undergraduate)

2019-2020 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Postgraduate)

2018/2019

2018-2019 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Undergraduate)

2018-2019 External Examiner Summary Report (Taught Postgraduate)

 

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 assessment.records@imperial.ac.uk