The submission of final external examiner reports is a peer-review quality process across institutions internationally. It is a core part of the external examiner system originally introduced at the University of Durham in 1832. While not implemented in every country, it is most commonly a feature of third level institutions directly influenced by the original British institutions, principally in the Commonwealth.

The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in the UK indicate that “Formal written reports provided by the external examiner to the degree-awarding body are a critical element of robust processes for maintaining threshold academic standards and assuring and enhancing quality.” (QAA Assuring and Enhancing Academic Quality (B7: External Examining))

The normal approach would be that each external examiner will submit at least one report annually as a formal review of the programmes/modules for which they have been assigned responsibility. While there is no international standardised template for these reports, the reports typically assess the examination procedures, the external examiners ability to consider samples of work, their contribution to the examination boards and their overall quality assessment regarding institutional academic procedures.

Report Types

There are two “types” of reports:

  1. Module Report : The report applies to a module or multiple modules
  2. Programme Report: The report applies to a programme or multiple programmes

The type of report tends to depend on the practice of the local unit (school or department) that the external examiner is linked to. For example, a unit might nominate an external examiner as a module external examiner and assign them all ‘Marketing’ modules across all programmes. Another unit, might nominate an external examiner as a programme external examiner and assign them particular programmes (with the constituant modules for those programmes).

Final Report Process Flow

Typically at the end of the academic year, the external examiner submits a final report. This may follow attendance at the examination boards in the host institution, although there can be reasons why the external examiner might not be able to attend certain boards. There are three main stages involved with final external examiner reports:

  1. Report Submission: External examiner submits a report
  2. Triage and Responder Nomination: The report will be “triaged” and a responder chosen
  3. Response: The responder will subsequently complete a response to the external examiner

Guide: Externs - How to Submit a Final Report Online

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