External Examiner Information for Staff
These pages are intended for colleagues within Edinburgh Napier who are seeking further information on:
- the processes related to appointing new external examiners, including the criteria for approval
- how to seek new external examiners for a vacant position (or to find out more about becoming an external examiner elsewhere)
- how to extend or amend an existing external examiners contract
- the implications of professional and statutory regulatory bodies on the appointment of external examiners
- the responsibilities held by School Support Service for the administration of external examiners.
If you have any queries about external examining procedures, please contact the relevant School (see
School Contact Details).
Selection and Nomination of External Examiners: Criteria and Forms
How do I find a new external examiner?
You can advertise your vacancy through the UK sector-wide JISC mail-list for past and current examiners and those interested in becoming external examiners. Your School Quality contact can provides you with advice and guidance on doig this.
External examiners can also be found through connections generated through academic networks, and programme and module teams may be able to suggest a number of potential external examiners to approach, subject to them meeting the appropriate criteria
How do I appoint a new external examiner?
External examiners have an important role in offering an independent evaluation on the standards and quality of the provision offered at Edinburgh Napier University. The QAA External Examining Principles provides guidance on the criteria for appointing external examiners and this can be found below.
Once you and your School Quality SAL are satisfied that the potential external examiner meets the criteria and once they have agreed to be nominated, you should complete the External Examiner Application Form and send it to Quality & Standards, quality@napier.ac.uk . Once Quality & Standards are satisfied that the candidate meets the criteria they will confirm this to you which then allows the School to start the HR and University appointment process via SITS and HR Connect.
Criteria for the appointment of new external examiners
Principles (from QAA External Examining Principles)
Institutions should aim to have a suitably diverse external examiner pool, with that diversity contributing to the inclusiveness of their teaching, learning and assessment processes for students.
Person Specification
External examiners should have:
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Expertise, credibility and breadth of experience within the discipline to be able to command the respect of academic peers, and where appropriate, professional peers.
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Relevant academic and/or professional qualifications to at least the level of the qualification being externally examined, and/or extensive and equivalent practitioner experience where appropriate.
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Knowledge and understanding of UK reference points as outlined in the threshold academic standards in The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies, Subject Benchmark Statements, the Quality Code for Higher Education, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, regulatory requirements and the programme learning outcomes that students need to meet in order to achieve the award. For new External Examiners, a commitment to undertake learning on this is required.
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Competence and experience relating to designing and delivering a variety of assessment tasks appropriate to the subject
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Awareness of current developments in the design and delivery of provision, demonstrated through involvement in approval and review events as an external panel member, fellowship of Advance HE etc.
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Fluency in English
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Experience in the broad subject area of leading curriculum development, design and assessment, for an equivalent or higher level of award.
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No more than two external examiner appointments for taught courses (or equivalent) at any point in time.
External Examiners must be impartial in making their judgements and should have no previous close involvement with the University which might compromise their objectivity. In particular an External Examiner should not have been, during the past five years:
A member of staff, a court member, a student, or a near relative of a member of staff involved with the programme of study
An examiner on a cognate programme of study in the University
A consultant to a programme of study team on programme of study design
A proposed External Examiner must not be or have been, during the last five years:
Personally associated with the sponsorship of students
Required to assess colleagues who are recruited as students to the programme of study
In a position to influence significantly the future of students on the programme of study
There should not be any other proposal in progress within Napier University that would affect the External Examiner's eligibility for the proposed period of appointment, e.g. a visiting or honorary appointment.
When considering an examiners duty for collaborative provision the programme team should ensure that the same examiner examines both the home and partner provision. This will ensure that equivalence of standards is monitored.
Eligibility to work in the UK
In addition to the criteria above, as the external examiner will receive a contract of employment from the University for undertaking their role, they must be eligible to work within the UK. A right to work in the UK check must be completed in advance of undertaking any work and successful applicants must complete a right ot work check with the Univerisyt’s People Team and submit evidence to confirm their eligibility to work in the UK. Checks will either be in person or via video call depending on the documents provided. More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checklist.
How many programmes and/or modules can we ask an external examiner to be responsible for?
Module External Examiners should not be considered for duties of less than three modules (unless this is unavoidable in view of the specialist nature of a specific module). Equally External Examiners' workloads should be reasonable in terms of the volume of work and the timescales and deadlines associated with their duties.
How long are external examiners appointed for?
External Examiners normal term of office should be for 4 academic sessions. In exceptional cases, this can be extended by 12 months to make the maximum period of appointment 5 years.
What is the criteria for mentoring an external examiner?
If an external examiner is exceptionally appointed, for example they have no recent experience in external examining, then they must be supported by a mentor for the first 12 months of their appointment. The following criteria should be used to appoint a mentor:
a) a mentor must be an experienced external examiner;
b) any experienced external examiner appointed within the School may act as a mentor as long as they are willing to do so, and that it does not detract from the main task of external examining;
c) The mentor must not be connected to the programme and modules the external examiner is expected to examine;
d) a mentor may look after any number of inexperienced colleagues (subject to point c) above) but should be aware that there is no additional payment allotted to the mentoring role.
Making Amendments to the External Examiner's Duties
The University database, SITS records the duties (module and programme responsibilities) formally contracted to an external examiner on the point of appointment. This information is obtained from the details provided on the appointment form (EE1), and it is used to determine the fee paid to the external examiner.
The external examiner must be informed of any changes which require:
- the fee payment to increase (see fee rates webpage for details);
- a reallocation of duties, particularly those involving level 11 modules to the external examiner for the first time;
- an extension to the period of appointment.
To change the duties of an external examiner, the School should:
- obtain confirmation from the examiner that they agree to the changes;
- notify Quality & Standards of the changes;
- issue a new appointment letter to the external examiner;
- update SITS accordingly.
What if an external examiner retires from their academic post?
One of the functions of an external examiner is to comment on the comparability of the standard and level of student achievement at Edinburgh Napier University with those of other higher education institutions. Across the higher education sector it is accepted that currency issues can emerge two/three years after an individual retires from their institution. Consequently care must be taken to ensure that we do not continue to employ external examiners once they have been retired from their academic post for three or more years. An extension to an existing appointment cannot be agreed if during the appointment period the external will have been retired from their duties for more than three years.
Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRB) and External Examiners
The Business School
Presently accreditation from PSRBs only directly impact on the appointment of external examiners in the area of Law where level 7 and 8 provision requires to be assigned to an external examiner. For all other programmes, the University academic regulations only require external examiners to be appointed to examine level 9, 10 and 11 provision.
School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) require the appointment of a second external examiner for the programmes they accredit. This external examiner must be in the building profession/industry.
School of Applied Sciences and School of Health and Social Care
The Nursing, Midwifery and Veterinary Nursing PSRBs require evidence as part of their annual reviews that external examiners have engaged with the provision and that the external examiner contracts and renumeration are commensurate with their role.
External examiners appointed to NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) approved programmes require confirmation that the appointee is on the NMC
School Responsibilities
Colleagues in Schools have responsibility for the day to day administration of the external examiner system and the following document goes into detail about the exact responsibilities for the school.
As a matter of course you should send out:
Programme Handbooks (if applicable)
Module descriptors
Assessment briefs/marking criteria
Approved exemptions to the University Regulations (if applicable)
The School should also:
Notify external examiners of the dates and times of the online Programme Assessment Boards as early as possible.
Send out draft assessments to external examiners and ensure that comments received are considered.
Ensure that external examiners are provided with at least a square root sample of completed assessments.
Ensure that external examiners are kept informed throughout the year of proposed changes to modules and/or programmes.
Respond to any issues raised within the external examiners reports.
Liaise with the external examiners to make travel and accommodation arrangements as necessary, ensuring that the external examiners are aware of the University procedures to claim back any expenses incurred (though as Programme Assessment Boards are online, fewer external examiners visit the institution in person).
Make use of the checklist for schools below on the minimum information provided to external examiners to ensure a consistent experience for external examiners across the institution
Checklist for Schools on minimum information provided to EEs (Version 2.0).docx
Quality & Standards responsibilities
Reviewing and confirming the appointment to confirm that appropriate standards have been met.
Annualy updating the report template and setting the report deadline.
Producing an annual summary report of University level feedback from the reports.
Induction should be organised jointly between DLTE (Quality and Standards) and School Support Service.
External Examiner Fee Payment Rates
Current rates.
Module Duties Only
Module* |
Rate (£) |
| 1 module | 100 |
| 2-3 modules | 230 |
| 4-8 modules | 285 |
| 9 or more modules | 345 |
* an external examiner will normally be responsible for multiple modules; only in exceptional cases would an external examiner be responsible for 1 module.
Programme and Module Duties
Programme and Module |
Rate (£) |
| Programme and 1-3 modules | 400 |
| Programme and 4-7 modules | 460 |
| Programme and 8 or more modules | 515 |
There is an upper fee of £615 per annum which can be applied at the School's discretion for external examiners undertaking exceptional duties.