Deadlines
We ask external examiners to respect the following deadlines when submitting their report (unless they have been given an alternative deadline):
This ensures that the School has time to respond to any issues that arise, and that the University's Quality Assurance Committee can determine what further action may be needed, before the next academic session.
What to submit
For each School, external examiners should submit one report for any undergraduate programmes they have looked at and a separate one for any postgraduate programmes.
Reports are to be submitted via an on-line form. A unique link to the on-line form would normally be emailed to each external examiner at least 6 weeks before a report is due.
All questions should be answered as fully as possible and any issues that may have previously been raised with the School (e.g. at Board of Examiners’ meetings) should also be included in the report. Those who also examine the equivalent programme at our Dubai campus, or as an apprenticeship, should note any specific comments in the relevant section of the form.
There should be no identifiable reference to individual members of staff or students (either by use of name or ID number) in the report to ensure appropriate confidentiality is maintained. This is because the contents of the report will be discussed at the relevant College and University committees, including at Staff Student Committees. External examiner reports will also be made available to any student on request.
After following the on-line link provided, the form can either be completed in one session or the ‘save and resume’ function may be used to partially complete the form and return to it later. If the ‘save and resume’ function is used, a new link will appear on screen (however external examiners should be aware that the new link will expire after 30 days so will need to return to it within that timeframe); external examiners are reminded to keep the new link somewhere safe, or fill in their email details to receive the link via email, otherwise the partially completed form will not be retrievable.
Once the on-line report form has been submitted, the external examiner will receive an email acknowledging the submission. This email will include a PDF version of the submitted report. If the external examiner later finds that they want to make changes to their report, the specific changes should be emailed to externalexaminers@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
External Examiner Report Questions (MS Word 60KB) may be useful to those who would like to see the questions in advance of completing the on-line form (however please note that only submissions received via the on-line form will be accepted).
The University of Birmingham is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and external examiners’ reports may be requested under the provisions of the Act.
Responding to your report
If a report raises developmental issues that the external examiner has asked the School to consider, the School will respond directly to the external examiner. Normally we ask Schools to respond within 6-8 weeks, however, if the issues that were raised need to be discussed at committee-level, this may take longer.
Further help
If an external examiner feels at any time that issues raised in their report have not been considered appropriately by the School or University, or for any other problems in connection with the report, please contact the Policy and Quality Assurance division of Registry at externalexaminers@contacts.bham.ac.uk.