Ideally negotiate with her / him to see out the current year (including any referral Board of Examiners). This may provide enough time to secure someone else and a handover period between external examiners. Otherwise, consider if there is another suitable external examiner appointed to a course within the School, who might agree to additional duties for a temporary period (in which case you would need to complete and process an EE2 form for additional duties). This hopefully, would provide sufficient time to seek out and secure someone else.

Once the external examiner has resigned – please notify Jane Dyer, CADQ, so that she can amend the CADQ records. The external examiner should send a formal letter stating why they seeks early termination of their tenure, the reasons for the request should be submitted in writing, and where possible in the form of a report to the Dean of School. The Dean (or nominee) should then respond to this via a letter:

thanking the external examiner for their contribution to the course
expressing regret at the early termination of their tenure (example letter).

Usually a minimum of six months notice would be required by the School.

Once formal confirmation of resignation is received, where an external examiner has not adhered to the above, or has terminated his/her tenure and wishes to relinquish their role part way through the academic year, a letter of thanks should be sent to the external examiner from the Dean of School. An exit questionnaire should also be sent with the letter.

These comments can not only be used to inform the programme team but may also be helpful to any replacement external examiner(s).

Dismissal of an external examiner

Whilst it is hoped that such a situation will not arise, the University reserves the right to give notice of premature termination of appointment to an external examiner whose performance or general conduct is unsatisfactory.
Where this situation arises, the School/course team must contact the external examiner and attempt to resolve the matter informally: if this attempt fails, then the Dean of the School, in consultation with CADQ, may write to the external examiner confirming his/her responsibilities and asking them to confirm that they wish to continue in the post in light of their failure to:

attend a Board of Examiners meetings without the prior agreement of the Chair of the Board of Examiners
submit their annual reports (e.g. three reports within three years) within the specified time
fulfil other duties identified in the University’s Academic Standards and Quality Handbook.

This above may not be the case if the School/course team feel that the position is irretrievable and more urgent action is required.

Should it become necessary to prematurely terminate the appointment, this will be conditional upon the authorisation of the Vice-Chancellor, via the Academic Standards and Quality Committee, in consultation with, and on the recommendation of, the Dean of School.

Usually a minimum of six months notice would be given to an external examiner in these circumstances.

Copies of all reports relating to the termination of external examiner appointments must be forwarded to the External Examiner Appointments Panel via the Centre for Academic Development and Quality (CADQ).

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or an organization has an interest that might compromise their reliability. A conflict of interest exists even if no improper act results from it, and can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the conflicted individual or organization.

Whilst previously the policy on a potential conflict of interest arising following appointment, has been monitored by the course team, it is now felt that some formal guidance should be given. Therefore where there is an actual or potential conflict of interest, such as a close professional or personal relationship, the incumbent external or NTU staff member should disclose the relationship to the University’s External Examiner Appointments Panel, via CADQ, who will then consider and make an appropriate decision.

This current nomination and appointment process identifies the types of outside professional relationships which are restricted with regard to the appointment of external examiners, namely:

an external is expected not to have any direct current ties with the university or its staff, or have had any in the last three years
an external should not have acted as a consultant to the course team within the last three years. (Prior to their appointment an external may have been a member of a panel established to approve the course)
no external examiner may be appointed if by doing so a reciprocal arrangement for external examining would arise (i.e a member from the NTU subject team is on the same Board of Examiners as the proposed external examiner at their home institution)
an external should not normally be replaced by an individual from the same institution
except in very large examining teams, there should be no more than one external from the same institution.

In order to assure that there continues to be no conflict of interest, the course team and external examiner are asked to operate in a manner which discloses any actual or perceived conflict of interest both prior and subsequent to the appointment of the external examiner.

20. I hope to secure a replacement external examiner who is employed by the same institution as the outgoing external examiner (or other member of the external examiner team). Is this acceptable?

No, the external examiner system works on the basis that input is wide-ranging and refreshed routinely. Unless there is an exceptional reason why you would wish to appoint from the same institution then the advice of EEAP would be to look elsewhere. If there is an exceptional reason, please make a case within the rationale section of form EE1, for the EEAP to consider.

21. When the external examiner for my course was appointed last year, his appointment did not create a reciprocal arrangement; however recently, the home institution of the external examiner has approached a School colleague and asked if she/he will be the external examiner on one of its courses. Is this acceptable?

No, not unless it is on a non-related course and does not cause any conflict of interest. The EEAP would hope that the QA processes of the other institution would identify the issue and reject the nomination; however it would be much better for the NTU course team member to turn down the offer at the outset or where there is an element of confusion to forward details to the EEAP for decision.

22. As required, the nominated external examiner has completed and signed Section B of the nomination form and has indicated previous links with NTU. As part of its deliberations SASQC / VSSC requested further information, which it considered at length, before concluding that there was no conflict of interest. Should SASQC / VSSC reject the proposal because the external examiner has mentioned the links on the form?

Not necessarily. The broad guideline is that the nominee should not have any direct ties with the University or its staff during the last three years, so if for example, there has been some recent collaboration say, on writing a book, or the link impacts on the course or the course team, or the proposed external examiner has been working as a visiting lecturer on the course within the three year period, then this is probably too close. The important thing within this question however, is that SASQC / VSSC has taken time to think through the implications of the link(s) / seek further information, and has arrived at an informed view.

Statements | Contacts

Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU
Tel: +44 (0)115 941 8418 Email