Universities UK and GuildHE, in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and other organisations, conducted a review of external examining arrangements in the UK chaired by Professor Dame Janet Finch, former Vice-Chancellor of Keele University.

The final report is now available, Review of External Examining Final Report. The Review found that, on the whole, external examining arrangements in the UK are working well, but the degree of consistency should be improved and the transparency for students should be increased.
 
Recommendations in the report include:

• a national set of minimum expectations for the role of external examiners should be developed
• there should be a national set of criteria established for the appointment of external examiners, and these should be adopted by each institution
• the name, position and institution of all external examiners should be included in programme details provided to students
• all external examiners' reports should be made available, in full, to all students, with the sole exception of any confidential report which may be made to the vice-chancellor
• all universities should recognise the importance of the external examiner role when looking at staff promotion procedures

The report strongly advises the adoption of the recommendations by universities as soon as possible and invites the Quality Assurance Agency to incorporate them in the ongoing development of the Academic Infrastructure.

The review was conducted in response to a recommendation from HEFCE arising from the HEFCE Teaching Quality and Student Experience (TQSE) sub-committee report on HEFCE's statutory responsiblity for quality assurance (HEFCE 2009/40) and as part of a wider commitment to ensure that quality arrangements are continually reviewed and developed.

The Review was supported by a Review Group and an Expert Group (drawing upon a wide range of experts from the sector across the UK).

To assist in the development of the recommendations and to share initial thoughts a discussion paper was issued Review of External Examining Arrangements in the UK Discussion Paper 22 July 2010 .  The discussion paper incorporated the initial views of the QAA on the development of "minimum expectations" for the role of external examiners.
 
An analysis of the responses was undertaken, REE Analysis of Discussion Paper Responses, and the final recommendations reflect detailed consideration of the responses.

About External Examiners
In the UK's system of higher education, institutions are responsible for the quality of the education they provide and the academic standards of the awards they offer. External examining is a long-standing system that is almost unique to UK Higher Education and is just one of the many ways in which institutions monitor whether the academic standards are appropriate. All UK universities make use of this network of independent and impartial academic advisers, drawn from other institutions or from areas of professional practice.

Examiners are typically asked to report on:

• whether the academic standards set for its awards, or part thereof, are appropriate
• the extent to which assessment processes are rigorous, ensure equity of treatment for students and have been fairly conducted within institutional regulations and guidance
• the standards of student performance in the programmes or parts of programmes which they have been appointed to examine
• where appropriate, the comparability of the standards and student achievements with those in some other higher education institutions
• good practice they have identified

External examiners report to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, by referring both to their experience of standards in other universities, and to the Academic Infrastructure established by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). External examiner reports have significant status within the university. They are considered at, and used by, the department and university in internal quality assurance committees. External institutional review (opens in new window) conducted by the QAA tests the effectiveness of the institution's processes for supporting and acting upon the recommendations of external examiners.

Guidance

The QAA Code of Practice (opens in new window) provides guidance and precepts on the use of external examiners. 

The QAA has reviewed the performance of the sector in this area in what are called Outcome reports. The latest Outcomes from institutional audit External examiners and their reports (opens in new window) (June 2008) comments that 'overall....external examining arrangements were generally working well and that comments by external examiners in their reports were making an important contribution to the work of safeguarding academic standards and managing the quality of provision'.