Code of Practice for External Examiners Research Degrees
Code of Practice
In this document the term ‘External Examiners’ refers to External Examiners for research degrees.
General
1. All External Examiners are ultimately responsible to the Senate, which is responsible for the conduct of all examinations at Aberystwyth University.
Criteria for Appointment
2. No external examiner may be appointed who has had direct or indirect communication with a candidate concerning his or her research.
3. Departments, Schools and Institutes should take care to ensure that they do not overuse a particular examiner.
4. Only persons of sufficient seniority and experience to be able to command authority should be appointed as external examiners. The External Examiner must possess specialist knowledge and expertise in the subject of research.
5. Examiners from outside the university system are appropriate where professional expertise is required but such appointees must have suitable experience of research degree examinations.
6. Former 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, or sufficient time for students supervised by that member of staff to have passed through the system, whichever is the longer.
7.Former members of staff at Aberystwyth University who have retired will not normally be nominated as External Examiners. Members of staff of other Institutions who have retired during the preceding 3 years may be invited without such a lapse of time to act as External Examiners at Aberystwyth University.
Appointments
8. External examiners appointments shall be made on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor and shall be approved by the Head of the Graduate School.
Guidance for Examining Boards for Research Degrees
9. Upon appointment, each external examiner shall be supplied with copies of the relevant Regulations of the University, together with Standing Orders, this Code of Practice, the Guidance for Examining Boards for Research Degrees and the appropriate examination ‘Result and Report Forms’.
10. Examiners are asked to ensure that they are familiar with the content of the Guidance (which will be issued to them upon appointment) and that they act in accordance with them.
Unacceptable Academic Practice
11. An external examiner who, either in the course of the examining process or subsequently, considers that a candidate has engaged in an unfair examination practice shall immediately report the circumstances in writing to the Chair of the Examining Board concerned.
Reports
12. The University attaches considerable importance to the external examiner’s report and payment of the fee is conditional upon its receipt. In accordance with the University’s Standing Orders an external examiner will be asked to report upon the work as soon as possible, and normally within twelve working weeks from the date of submission of the work by the candidate.
Arbitrating Examiners
13. When a dispute arises between the External Examiner and Internal Examiner(s) the usual Report and Result Form should be marked by the Examiners and Chair so as to indicate that the Board has been unable to agree upon a recommendation.
In such a case it is within the power of the Head of the Graduate School to resort to another external examiner who shall be asked to arbitrate.
When selecting an Arbitrating External Examiner the Head of the Graduate School may take into account any written reports submitted by the members of the Examining Board and may also take into account – but need not be bound by – any nomination made by the original Board.
Upon appointment, an Arbitrating External Examiner shall be given a copy of the candidate’s work together with the reports of the original examiners and the Report and Result Form and ‘Notes for Arbitrating External Examiners’.
When considering the candidate’s work an Arbitrating External Examiner may choose whether or not to refer to the reports of the original examiners (and if so, when he/she might do so). He/she may also choose to conduct a further oral examination and, if so, whether or not the original examiners may be invited to attend.
When the Arbitrating External Examiner has concluded the consideration of the work, the outcome should be communicated to the Chair of Examining Board, in the first instance. The Chair shall arrange for the Report and Result Form to be completed, signed and returned to the Academic Quality and Records Office.
ALM/rbw
August 2013