External Examiner Updates Archive

We are writing to provide you with an overview of some of the key processes for your role as External Examiner at the University of Derby that will need to be completed as we near the end of this academic year.

Moderation and access to Blackboard 

External Examiners are set up with access to the University of Derby VLE (Blackboard) and through this, you will be able to view the modules and programmes that you have been allocated as part of your duties. If you are experiencing any challenges the following teams will be able to support you:

• You can access Blackboard but cannot see the correct modules attached to your record - Please contact the External Examiner team (externalexaminers@derby.ac.uk) and copy in the Programme Lead(s)
• You can access Blackboard and can see the modules but not the External Examiner folder which will contain the samples of work - Contact the Digital Learning Technologies team (dls@derby.ac.uk) and copy in the External Examiner team (externalexaminers@derby.ac.uk) and the Programme Lead(s)
• You can access Blackboard, the correct modules and the EE folder but cannot see the samples of work - Contact the Programme/Module leads for the course 

The programme lead will be able to advise you of the timelines of when moderation will be ready and the deadlines for completion.

Annual Report

All External Examiners are required to submit an annual report to the University at the end of the academic year as part of their appointed duties. This will usually be after moderation has been completed and/or attendance at an Assessment Board. For example, College Level External Examiners will have been invited to a College Formal Assessment Board by the relevant College Student Centre team. Programme/Subject level External Examiners may have been invited to attend a Pre-Board.

For External Examiner Annual reports please use the templates which can be found under the section Guidance for completing the Annual Report.

The deadline for 2022/23 External Examiner reports is:

• Summer Boards – within 1 month of the final Assessment Board or by 1st September at the latest
• Autumn Boards – within 1 month of the final Assessment Board or by 1st December at the latest
• Assessment boards that fall outside of standard time frame – within 4 weeks of the boards taking place

External Examiner fee

To receive your External Examiner fee, you will need to:

1. Complete all moderation work requested by the programme team
2. Submit your Annual Report to ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk within 1 month of the Assessment Board (or by 1st September for summer boards; 1st December for the autumn boards)
3. Complete and submit the External Personnel Claim Form for Payroll – using your MENT account number as the "Unique Claim Reference"

We also request that you please complete the HESA Survey.

HESA is the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about Higher Education in the UK, and the Designated Data Body for England. Each year, individualised data is collected from the University in respect of all staff who were employed by the University at any time in the previous twelve-month period. This data includes the personal characteristics of staff.  All uses of personal data collected by HESA are described in the staff collection notice https://www.hesa.ac.uk/about/regulation/data-protection/notices#staff

We are unable to process your fee until your Annual Report has been received. If you have more than one report to submit, the fee will be processed on receipt of the final report.

Claiming expenses for in-person visits

In the majority of cases, the duties attached to the external examiner role are carried out virtually. There may be some cases where it has been agreed in advance with the Programme lead/team that you will need to arrange to visit the University of Derby e.g. on-site moderation or to attend an Assessment Board/pre-board.

Travel and Accommodation for in-person visits

External Examiners should book their own travel and accommodation in line with the University’s finance regulations and claim the payment back via expenses. The University has standard guidance regarding expense claims in line with University and HMRC guidelines and we suggest that you contact ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk for further guidance.

Claims can be submitted when you submit your Annual Report. All expenses claims must be made within 4 months of the work being completed.

External Examiner expenses can be claimed by completing the External Personnel Claim Form.

Any receipts for travel, accommodation and subsistence would need to be emailed to sessional@derby.ac.uk.

A table of rates of reimbursement (22/23 rate) can be viewed under the section External Examiner Fees and Expenses.

Useful resources and key contacts

The External Examiner team is the main point of contact via ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk and will be able to signpost to the relevant team to resolve any issues that you may be experiencing.

A useful set of resources regarding the annual report, fee payments and guidance on using Blackboard can be found on our web pages.

An overview of the different teams involved and which parts of the process that they support can be viewed on our About the External Examiner Role page.

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for all your continued support as an External Examiner,

The External Examiner Team

Quality Monitoring and Evaluation

Centre for Quality Assurance

University of Derby

We are currently in the midst of a review of External Examining at UoD and this incorporates the requirements for annual reporting.   Usually, External Examiners are expected to submit one report covering both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes that fall within their remit.  As part of the review activity, we would like to trial receiving separate reports for these two distinct levels.  The rationale behind this is that the moderation time frames, and final assessment boards usually occur at different points of the academic year and therefore a staggered approach will allow for External Examiners to submit reports at the most appropriate point, closest to when they have undertaken the work.  This will then allow for the University to consider External Examiner comments and identify actions in response to reports in a timelier manner.

As you have undergraduate and postgraduate provision as part of your External Examiner duties please could we ask that you submit two separate reports.

For UG programmes where the final assessment board has recently taken place or if you have completed all of your moderation for this academic year, we would be grateful if you could submit your annual report at your earliest convenience to externalexaminers@derby.ac.uk   

• If you are a subject, programme or College-level external examiner, please use the External Examiner Annual Report Template
• If you are a Chief External Examiner, please use the Chief External Examiner Annual Report Template 

For PG programmes where the final Assessment board is taking place in the autumn please submit your report as soon as possible thereafter but by 1st December at the latest.  

The deadline for External Examiner reports is:

• Summer Boards – within 1 month of the final Assessment Board or by 1st September at the latest
• Autumn Boards – within 1 month of the final Assessment Board or by 1st December at the latest
• Assessment boards that fall outside of standard time frame – within 4 weeks of the boards taking place 

We would very much appreciate your support with trialling this new approach and will be seeking your feedback once all 2022-23 reports have been received.  This feedback will then be used to inform our review, ahead of any changes being made for the 2023-24 academic year.  Should you have any queries relating to this, please do not hesitate to contact us via ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk

External Examiner fee

To receive your External Examiner fee, you will need to:

1. Complete all moderation work requested by the programme team
2. Submit your Annual Report to ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk by the deadlines shown above
3. Complete and submit the External Personnel Claim Form for Payroll – using your MENT account number as the "Unique Claim Reference".   

Your fee will be processed once your Annual Report has been received. If you have more than one report to submit, the fee will be processed on receipt of the final report.

Complete the HESA survey

We also request that you please complete HESA Survey.

HESA is the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about Higher Education in the UK, and the Designated Data Body for England.  Each year, individualised data is collected from the University in respect of all staff who were employed by the University at any time in the previous twelve-month period.  This data includes the personal characteristics of staff.  All uses of personal data collected by HESA are described in the staff collection notice https://www.hesa.ac.uk/about/regulation/data-protection/notices#staff 

There are some cases where External Examiners may need to arrange to visit University of Derby on site for Moderation or Assessment Board purposes. These circumstances are an exception to the rule. For Moderation, the stipulation is that this is conducted through Blackboard and is therefore an online activity; however, we understand there maybe a few programmes that will necessitate moderation of physical/practical work being carried out on- site.

Assessment Boards will remain virtual for this academic year; we will be sharing some further guidance soon to manage expectations around attendance of External Examiners at Assessment Boards. The role of the College Level External Examiner is still in place.

For the exception to the rule, where an on-campus visit may be required, External Examiners are able to book their own travel and accommodation as per the finance regulations and claim the payment back via expenses and our central External Examiner team (ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk), following the claim form process. Any visits would need to be agreed with the Head of School/Budget Holder. 

The limits on claims can be found within the Finance Regulations. The main point is that the claim would need to be 'reasonable'.

For Travel this can be booked by the external but again it must be reasonable, the Finance Department would not allow a claim for first class rail tickets for example, unless it can be evidenced that they were cheaper than standard. Mileage remains at 45p per mile. All expenses claims must be made within 4 months of the work being completed.

Claims from External Examiners for expenses can be submitted in line with their Annual Report fee or made independently (but must be within 4 months of completion). Any receipts for subsistence would need to be emailed to sessional@derby.ac.uk. External Examiner expenses can be claimed by completing the External Personnel Claim Form for Payroll.

Please note that you will need to use your MENT account number as your ‘Unique Claim Reference’. This is the same username that you would use to log into Course Resources, please contact ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk if you need reminding of your MENT account number. 

Our central External Examiner team receive many queries close to the requirement for moderation to be completed or for Assessment Board work; these queries involve access issues to University of Derby Systems/ Blackboard or around External Examiners not having the correct access to programmes/modules to moderate work. Please can we highlight the importance of the below so that we can support effectively during this time:

Please access the UOD systems well before moderation/work is due, if you are having trouble accessing these or remembering your passwords, please contact our team externalexaminers@derby.ac.uk, promptly so that this can be resolved in good time. Our External Examiner webpages have information for External Examiners on how they can re-set their passwords (video link). 

We attach External Examiners to the programmes and modules listed on their nomination forms or most recent reallocation of duties form. We find sometimes that required modules have not been included and therefore External Examiners do not have access to mark and moderate student work. If you are aware of other programmes/ modules that need adding to External Examiners duties, please let us know as soon as possible to ensure we can complete the process before key deadlines approach, as to not hold anything up for our students. We would also need a reallocation of duties form completed by the programme leader and our team can advise on the process as required.

The External Examiner team is the main point of call and can direct promptly to the relevant team to push a problem through to correction, for External Examiners and Programme leaders to be aware of this point may ensure the steps/ support can be more efficient to as we can coordinate with other teams if needed.

For us regular and early communication/ information from Colleges around External Examiner responsibilities and the programmes and modules they need to be responsible for, is vital in making sure the correct steps for the External Examiners and academic teams are put in place.

Ahead of the Summer cycle of Assessment Boards we thought it would be useful to share a reminder of some of the key information around the College Level External role and the Assessment Board process.

We have received a number of queries around the role of a College Level External (a role that we bought into effect during the pandemic to reduce the number of people who were required to attend the Assessment Boards). The below aims to clarify the remit of the College Level External role and provide assurance and information on expectations of this role, along with the requirements expected within the role of External Examiners (EEs) (Our Programme and Subject EEs).

For the most part, the role of the College Level External is applicable; however, there are exceptions to the rule for some Assessment Boards (specifically within the college of HPSC, where PSRB requirements may differ).

College Level External:

• Colleges should have appointed a member of their current External Examiner community to also serve as the College Level External for their College. This role has an expectation to attend/ oversee virtually, the Formal Awarding Assessment Boards.
• This role is to ensure regulations are being met, and to provide formal externality at the Assessment Board itself. The role of the College Level External Examiner is to ratify that due process is followed and to assist in the consistency of the decision making during the Assessment Board. External Examiners at Programme/Subject level will continue to undertake their duties of moderation as normal.
• If you need to appoint a new College Level External, the following attributes may support in your decision making:
  • 2 years minimum experience in the role of an External Examiner at Subject / Programme level;
  • Knowledge/ experience beyond own subject level, e., they may hold the position of Dean/Assistant Dean at their own institution;
  • Reflective/ pragmatic in their approach;
  • Additional competencies that you may consider as a College g., experience of collaborative provision - if the college has lots of Academic Partners.
• Any arrangements regarding the Assessment Board dates and preparation for the events should be communicated to College Level Externals via the Assessment Board Officer.
• The College Level External should contact their College Student Centre if they have any queries around preparatory work or pre boards.
• At the Assessment Board itself College Level Externals:
  • Will be given a sheet at the end to sign off, in addition to countersigning the results with the Chair of the meeting. The Chair and External Examiner in attendance will be sent a statement of approval.
  • Confirm outcomes at the end of the assessment board and sign the assessment board
  • Have the opportunity to provide comments, and this will feed into the minutes of the Formal Assessment Board.
  • Have a specific time slot on the Agenda for them to contribute from an External Examiner
• Please note, where applicable, steps will be completed electronically and are not anything that will require a physical signature.
• The Assessment Board work will be separate to usual moderation duties that are carried out as per their usual External Examiner role
• Annual reports will still need to be submitted as per the required process (sent to externalexaminers@derby.ac.uk), for fees to be claimed for this academic year. This should not refer to the Assessment Board work as there needs to be a clear distinction between the two roles and anything relevant to the Assessment Board itself will be recorded within the appropriate format at the board event

All External Examiners (Programme and Subject):

• All moderation must be completed as per their current duties, in readiness for Assessment
• Engagement with academic colleagues at University of Derby to ensure moderation is submitted and that commentary is provided to programme leaders and recorded in time, is imperative.
• There is no expectation to attend Assessment Boards and moderation can be done
• The board will need confirmation that student work has been reviewed and moderated as per the usual
• A request for input/contributions where necessary - sharing any positive feedback as well as any concerns around programmes/moderation with the Programme Leader before the Assessment Board. This will be captured at a college level and be shared with the College Level External for the Assessment Boards.
• Any comments/ concerns provided are taken to formal boards where a College Level External will review them
• Any confirmation of moderation and any feedback will be taken to the Formal boards via a spreadsheet and the College Level External reads through and can then make any necessary comments on good practice or issues raised.
• Annual reports will need to be completed and submitted within 4 weeks after the last Formal Please contact Programme Leaders/ College Student Centres to find out when this is. You will need to submit this report to claim your annual fee and it is submitted via the externalexaminers@derby.ac.uk mailbox.

Information for Programme Leaders:

• Please ensure that your external examiner has externally moderated as per their duties in readiness for the Assessment Board dates.
• Any arrangements regarding the assessment board dates and preparation for the events should be communicated to the College Level External via the Assessment Board Officer and/or Programme
• Support any queries around preparatory work/ pre boards, assessment board dates and support any queries around the preparation required for the Assessment Board date.
• Pass on any specific comments (if any) that will need to be brought to the board's attention (this is separate from the External Examiner Annual Report) and needs to be forwarded in time for the formal board.
• Without confirmation of the external moderation the Classification and award cannot be made to the student. 

If you have any queries, please contact ExternalExaminers@derby.ac.uk