The Head of School/Department is responsible for supporting the External Examiner’s duties as outlined in the guidelines. The Head of School/Department must complete the Response Form at the end of each academic year.
The External Examiner supports the Head of School/Department in assuring academic standards and advises on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. The External Examiner must complete an External Examiner’s Report each year.
The External Examiner represents the Deputy President and Registrar and the university and acts as advisor and reviewer to the School/Department, but ultimately reports to the Deputy President and Registrar. Where the External Examiner has significant concerns they may provide a confidential report to the Deputy President and Registrar. The University will advise the Registrar of the National University of Ireland where such a circumstance arises.
1. The Role of the External Examiner
Quality
The fundamental role of the External Examiner is that of an independent expert who supports the University in assuring academic standards, advising on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. The External Examiner confirms that the academic standards of programmes, modules and the awards to which they lead are consistent with the academic outcomes specified, and are comparable to those achieved in the subject area in equivalent universities internationally.
Equity
The External Examiner helps to assure the fairness, validity and rigor of assessment at the University.
Enhancement
The External Examiner provides feedback on the quality of programmes and modules and the overall learning experience in the subject area, and on how teaching, learning and assessment may be enhanced.
Assessment
The role of the External Examiner is to review and enhance the assessment process. They will not routinely act as an additional examiner. The conduct of assessment and the determination of marks, grades and awards is a matter for the Internal Examiners acting with the advice of the External Examiner. Nonetheless, in particular circumstances and in accordance with the policies of the University, the External Examiner may be involved in the assessment process as second or additional examiner.
Collaborative External Examining
Collaborative or Team External Examining may be appropriate, especially in the case of large interdisciplinary programmes. Each Collaborating External Examiner will write an individual External Examiner’s Report.
3. Duties of the Head of School/Department upon the Appointment of a new External Examiner
On appointment, the Head of School/Department, is expected to send the External Examiner full information on the programmes/modules which are to be examined including:
- Programme/module aims and objectives, syllabi.
- Details of methods of assessment including the way in which the results of individual papers or other units of assessment are aggregated, averaged or profiled to produce an overall result.
- A copy of the External Examiner’s Report and Response Form from the previous academic year.
- Proposed dates for meetings of Internal Examination Board(s).
- Proposed dates for Examinations.
Where Collaborative External Examining is used, the Head of School/Department shall clarify how communications are to take place.
3. Examination Papers
Examination papers must be reviewed by the External Examiner. Draft examination papers must be sent in sufficient time to the External Examiner. Draft papers should be accompanied by model answers or solutions and a marking scheme for each paper. Responses to feedback from the External Examiner must be centralised through the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director to ensure full oversight.
The following workflow should be followed:
- Internal Examiners submit examination papers to the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director for review.
- Reviewed examination papers are sent by the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director to the External Examiner.
- External Examiner comments are returned to Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director and where necessary, communicated with Internal Examiners for action.
- Where necessary, revised papers are resubmitted by Internal Examiners to the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director.
- The Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director approves the examination papers. In cases where there is a significant issue, the Head of School/Department may seek further input from the External Examiner.
- A record is kept by the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director of any significant comments or changes, to be used for reference when completing the Response Form at the end of the year.
4. Continuous Assessment
It is important that the External Examiner has oversight of continuous assessment, especially in cases where a module is examined entirely through continuous assessment. A representative sample of continuous assessment materials (details of assessment, information on the marking scheme and a representative sample of student work) should be sent to the External Examiner, and further continuous assessment materials should be available for viewing at the External Examiner’s request. For modules where continuous assessment accounts for 50% or more of the final grade, details of continuous assessment tasks will normally be sent to the External Examiner for comment early in the academic year/semester, so that any recommended changes can be made before students have been informed of assignments. A workflow as outlined Section 3 above should be followed. For further details, see Section 11b below. Responses to feedback on continuous assessment from the External Examiner must be centralised through the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director to ensure full oversight.
5. Examination Scripts and Other Material
All examination scripts and other course work should be available to the External Examiner in advance of the Internal Examination Board(s) of the School/Department.
Normally, External Examiners shall review a sample of scripts drawn from the top, middle and bottom of the mark range, including all scripts of borderline candidates. The External Examiner shall receive the profile of marks across the module/programme with supporting statistics to allow overview of the collective profile (e.g. mean,median, standard deviation etc), as available through DMIS Discoverer Reports.
6. Practical and Clinical Examinations
The External Examiner, where possible, will have an involvement in practical examinations where specified in programme assessment requirements.
7. Oral Examinations
The External Examiner may be required to participate with Internal Examiners in oral examinations.
8. Examination Board Meetings
Notification of the proposed dates for meetings of the Internal Examination Board(s) will be provided to the External Examiner by the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director. The External Examiner is required to attend the Internal Examination Board(s) of the School/Department.
The procedures governing Examination Board meetings are contained in the Guide to Examinations available at https://www.ucc.ie/en/academicgov/policies/exam-policies/
9.Report of External Examiners
External Examiners will receive a link via email inviting them to populate an online form as their report. Should they have any issues with the process, they may contact externexaminers@ucc.ie.
10. Remedial Action, Where Required/Recommended
If the External Examiner’s Report requires or recommends remedial action, the Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director is obliged to provide a written response to the Deputy President and Registrar and to the External Examiner. The response shall include information on how the School/Department intends to progress any issues raised by the External Examiner, or why, having reflected on the issues raised, a decision is made not to take any action. It is the responsibility of the Head of School/Department to ensure that all requirements and recommendations are responded to.
Where the External has significant concerns they may provide a confidential report to the Deputy President and Registrar. The Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director is obliged to provide a response to the Deputy President and Registrar and External Examiner in a timely manner indicating what actions if any are being taken in response to the report of the External Examiner. The University will advise the Registrar of the National University of Ireland where such a circumstance arises.
11. The Duties of the External Examiner
a. Reviewing curricula and outcomes of courses, modules and programmes.
The External Examiner shall receive full information on the programmes and modules under examination, including any relevant materials describing the aims, objectives and/or outcomes and descriptors, syllabi and/or curricula.
b. Reviewing assessment strategies and assessment instruments.
The External Examiner shall receive full information on the assessment strategies and methods of assessment including the way in which the results of individual papers or other units of assessment are aggregated, averaged or profiled to produce an overall result. The External Examiner shall be provided with copies of any relevant assessment procedures, guidelines or statutes. The External Examiner may require copies of assessment strategies and instruments from previous years. The External Examiner shall review and comment on major assessment instruments such as continuous assessment tasks with a high weighting (e.g. 50% or more of module marks) and end of semester exams. However, given the complexity and variety of assessment instruments in use, it is often not practicable for External Examiners to comment in advance each and every instrument. The External Examiner shall agree with the School/Department which continuous assessment instruments are to be reviewed in advance and which may be reviewed in retrospect.
c. Auditing a sample of graded assessments to confirm standards and to make any relevant recommendations on learning outcomes, assessment and grading practices.
The sample of graded assessments audited by the External Examiner shall be sufficient to assure all student work that contributes to the overall final assessment is made available on request to External Examiners.
d. Auditing, where appropriate, the distribution of grades for courses or modules.
e. Advising on enhancements to assessment and grading practices or aspects of course, module or programme development.
f. Reviewing the content of courses and modules and, where relevant, the subject or programme, to ensure appropriateness and enhance quality.
g. The External Examiner may be invited to participate in practical, clinical or oral assessments and will normally review the assessment of major projects, dissertation or theses.
While the External Examiner will not routinely act as a second or additional examiner and will not normally be involved in the assessment of individual students, there are circumstances under which the External Examiner may be directly involved in the determination of marks or grades for individual students. These include the examination of major projects, theses or dissertations, or major practical, oral, clinical or professional assessments. Furthermore, the External Examiner may, on the basis of their participation in such assessments, or grades for individual students or cohorts of students, recommend the award of particular marks or grades where there is a difference of opinion between Internal Examiners. Where the External Examiner is involved in the assessment of a subset of the student cohort, it is important to ensure that those students are assessed against the same overall standards and criteria as other students. The final decision in relation to the award of marks or grades rests with the Examination Board and Academic Council of the University in accordance with the statutes and regulations of the University.
h) The External Examiner must visit the University in person during at least one year of their initial 3-year term (or 4-year term if extension is granted). Attendance will normally be during the first year with subsequent visits to be decided with the School/Department.
External examiners have the option to visit the University every year (with the agreement of the hosting School/Department); this may of relevance for Schools/Departments with many/large in-person examinations, programmes/modules which have a strong emphasis on continuous assessment or practical elements such as labs, etc.
In the case of remote External Examining, the following will apply:
- External examining will be facilitated through videoconferencing and/or through delivery of sample papers to the External Examiner in digital or physical format. Schools or Departments may, in some cases, arrange for videoconferencing between the External Examiner and students. Programme Coordinators should confirm with their External Examiner which format they wish to use, considering efficiency of operations and the maintenance of academic standards.
- Secure transfer of information is paramount.
- Payments for the External Examiner will be processed as usual on receipt of the External Examiner’s Report. Please note, if the External Examiner will not be incurring any expenses, they must still complete the Fee & Expenses Claim Form and submit the same to the relevant Head of School/Department for approval and processing. Any expenses related fields can be left blank.
i) The External Examiner may engage in discussions with the School/Department or key committees within the School/Department at any time during their appointment.
j) Following completion of the aforementioned activities, the External Examiner is required to provide a report on their findings to the University as outlined in Section 9 above. The External Examiner’s Report shall be received by the designated officer in the Academic Secretariat who will forward the relevant reports to each Head of School/Department and/or Programme Director. The designated officer shall forward the External Examiner’s Report to the National University of Ireland and to the relevant Head of College. The Head of School/Department is obliged to provide a written response to the Registrar and Senior Vice President Academic and to the External Examiner to recommendations arising from the External Examiner’s Report. The response shall include information on how the School/Department intends to progress any issues raised by the External Examiner, or why, having reflected on the issues raised, a decision is made not to take any action.
Where the External Examiner has significant concerns they may provide a confidential report to the Deputy President and Registrar: see Section 10 above.
