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About External Examiners

​​Information for students on External and Intercollegiate Examiners.

The University of London annually appoints External and Intercollegiate Examiners, who are suitably qualified and experienced in the relevant subject area. External Examiners are drawn from academic staff of other higher education institutions, as well as industry, business and professions where appropriate. Intercollegiate Examiners are members of the academic staff of a member institution of the University of London other than the institute to which the appointment relates.

External and Intercollegiate Examiners are an important part of our quality assurance and enhancement procedures. At the end of their appointment the External and Intercollegiate Examiners provide an annual written report on their observations regarding our assessment processes and your assessed work. They provide comments and recommendations upon whether:

  • the standard set for the award is consistent with that of the national university system and related subject areas
  • the academic standards and your achievements are comparable with similar programmes in other UK higher education institutions
  • the processes to assess your work are sound and have been fairly conducted

In addition, they:

  • are involved and influential in the overall decision making process of the Boards of Examiners and endorse the decisions made by the boards
  • identify examples of good practice and innovation
  • provide recommendation on opportunities to enhance the quality of learning opportunities provided to you.

Intercollegiate Examiners also comment on whether or not academic standards and your achievements are comparable with similar programmes of other member institutions of the University of London.

External and Intercollegiate Examiners do not mark exams, papers or coursework.

Once we have received the comments and recommendations made in External and Intercollegiate Examiners’ Reports we will respond to the issues raised.

External and Intercollegiate Examiners’ reports and the corresponding responses are part of the Annual Programme Planning and Review process. Students can access the External and Intercollegiate Examiners’ Reports and responses for their programme via the University of London Portal. The Quality, Learning and Teaching Committee (QLTC) discusses the reports and monitors the outcome of the proposed actions.

Please note that you should not directly contact an External or Intercollegiate Examiner, in particular regarding your individual performance in assessment.

If you have any questions regarding External and Intercollegiate Examiners or would like further information, please contact us at external.examiner.report@london.ac.uk.

Check out the 'Get involved' pages on our website to find out how you can get involved in Quality Reviews and Committees as a student member.