External Examining reports

External Examiners are normally senior academics from another university whose role is to assist us in maintaining academic standards and enhancing the quality of the education we provide to our students. They help us ensure the standards of our awards, the standards of student performance and the validity of assessment processes.

External Examiners participate in the examining process for all University qualifications, including:

  1. Scrutinising new modules, reviewing and providing advice and approval on module amendments, and reviewing the assessments set for modules.
  2. Reviewing samples of continuous assessment and examination scripts.
  3. Attending School module boards where they monitor the standard of assessment, marking and feedback procedures.

External Examiners are required to complete an annual report highlighting areas of good practice and any areas of concern they have found during the external examining process. Schools are then required to provide a response to the External Examiner, addressing any concerns. On occasion, an External Examiner may raise an institutional concern, and, in this case, a response will be issued by the Associate Deans Education or the Associate Provost Education.

The Associate Deans Education and Associate Provost Education prepare a summary of External Examining reports for the committee responsible for quality assurance and enhancement of learning and teaching at the University. This process contributes to the ongoing development of modules and programmes, and to enhancing the student experience.

Schools provide a summary of their External Examining reports and any actions to be taken in response to the reports for discussion at Student Staff Consultative Committees.

External Examining reports for your School can be viewed in the MyCourses section of MySaint.

Please note that students must not contact External Examiners directly. Should you wish to raise any matter relating to External Examiner reports, you should contact the Head of School or academicmonitoring@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Further information on External Examiners can be found in the: