Nomination

Nominations should be submitted at least FOUR MONTHS before the current external examiner’s appointment expires. This will allow sufficient time for a nomination to be reviewed by the Academic Support Office, considered for approval by the Standing Committee on Assessment, and processed through HR compliance (if applicable).

The University is required to operate within the UK government's rules on working in the UK. Thus, all nominees who will examine any undergraduate modules or programmes must prove their right to work in the UK before they can do any work. Nominees should be made aware that the University will not register or pay workers who have not provided suitable documentation. 

For further information about what is required in a right to work check, please email hr-compliance@york.ac.uk.

All nominations must be completed using the University’s standard form (below), and submitted electronically to examiners@york.ac.uk. 

• External Examiner Nomination Form for Taught Provision.

All extensions to appointment requests must be completed using the University’s standard form (below), and submitted electronically to examiners@york.ac.uk. 

• External Examiner Extension to Appointment Request Form.

To help ensure that candidates are eligible for nomination, please refer to the Combined Registers for External Examiners. 

Appointment

The duration of an external examiner’s appointment will normally be for four years, achieving a balance between the need to bring a fresh perspective with the need to benefit from the external’s knowledge and insight gathered over a period of time.

In exceptional circumstances and in order to ensure continuity (for example where a programme has been withdrawn and is being ‘taught out’) the Standing Committee on Assessment will consider a request for a one-year extension to an appointment (this request must be accompanied by a detailed supporting rationale).  

Supporting External Examiners

All newly-appointed external examiners are invited to attend a University induction (these are delivered twice a year, usually in March and in September). The induction is delivered online by the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Assessment and the Academic Quality Team The focus of the session is on the role of the external examiner and on University-level processes and regulations for progression and award.

Departments would also separately contact external examiners, to provide:

• an overview of the programmes/modules curricula the External is overseeing
• an overview of Departmental assessment and feedback policies/procedures, mark schemes and moderation processes 
• a timeline of the key contact points in order to support the external examiner to manage the work (including timeframes for commenting on draft assessments and review of samples of work, and Boards of Examiners meeting dates).

Find out more about the induction