5.2 Criteria for Appointment

1. The attention of all prospective External Examiners is drawn to the QAA’s UK Quality Code for Higher Education during the appointment process. In particular, prospective External Examiners are asked to report any conflicts of interest in addition to those listed below.

2. External Examiners should normally hold no more than two external examiner appointments for taught schemes at any point in time.

3. Only persons of sufficient seniority and experience to be able to command authority should be appointed as External Examiners. All External Examiners should be familiar with the standard expected of students in the relevant awards and with sector agreed reference points and any appropriate professional body requirements. Academic appointments should have had extensive involvement in the relevant field of study, and in assessment, curriculum design, and the enhancement of the student experience.

4.  The appointment of internal and external examiners who are linguistically and academically competent to make judgements on the original Welsh language text should be regarded as a first principle. If it is not possible to appoint an external examiner to act through the medium of Welsh, the option of translating must be considered, noting that this carries a higher risk. For further guidance, please refer to the QAA guidance on effective practice in examining and assessing through the medium of Welsh guidelines-for-higher-education-providers-on-effective-practice-in-examining-and-assessing-in-welsh-within-wales.pdf

5. External Examiners from outside the University system are appropriate where professional expertise is required. Such Examiners must demonstrate familiarity with the required academic standards or must work in tandem with other External Examiners who do work within the University system.

6. Former students or members of staff at Aberystwyth University who have joined the staff of another University may not be invited to become External Examiners before a lapse of at least five years, and sufficient time for students taught by or with that External Examiner to have passed through the system, whichever is the longer. Former members of staff at Aberystwyth University who have retired will not normally be nominated as External Examiners.

7. External Examiners’ appointments will be monitored to ensure that Aberystwyth University External Examiners continue to represent a range of UK institutions and to prevent over-reliance on Examiners from particular universities.

8. An External Examiner shall not be re-appointed to examine a scheme offered within the same department before a lapse of at least five years and shall only be re-appointed in exceptional circumstances.

9. The making of reciprocal arrangements for external examining with staff teaching similar schemes of study at other universities is not permissible.

10. An External Examiner for a particular programme or programmes shall not be succeeded by another from the same department of the same University. It is not permissible for a department to engage more than one External Examiner from the same department at any institution.

11. Senate External Reviewers will be senior administrative staff from other Universities who have substantial experience of operating examination and assessment practices and procedures. Their role will be to confirm that AU has operated its approved procedures correctly and to identify possible enhancements based on good practice elsewhere.

12. Associate Examiners may be appointed in specialist subject areas which the main External Examiner for the study scheme or subject area is unable to cover. As they may be required to report to the main External Examiner and may not need to comment on a study scheme as a whole, they will require only specialist knowledge of the relevant subject area of the module(s) they are asked to moderate.