External Examiners
External Examiners serve to to help the University maintain nationally (and internationally) comparable standards in undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research degree programmes. TLD oversees the central processes of undergraduate and postgraduate taught External Examiners. Faculty Graduate Officers oversee the same processes for External Examiners for research degree programmes.
The Guidance on External Examiner Procedures document provides a detailed explanation of the role and processes involved for both staff and External Examiners for undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes.
A FAQ document is available for External Examiners and staff to help address popular queries.
Annual Reports
External Examiners should complete and return an annual report form no later than four weeks after the final Award Examination Board (or local equivalent) meeting has taken place. The report should be returned to external.examiners@manchester.ac.uk.
Upon receipt of the report, the annual payment will be processed. There is no requirement to request this payment via an expenses form. The reports will be circulated to Faculty and Schools by the External Examiner team.
There are three different versions of the report form, depending on the type of External Examiner role undertaken, identified in the Offer of Engagement and Acceptance letters. Please complete only the relevant form:
If External Examiners require copies of previous academic year reports or are unsure of which report form to complete, please contact External.Examiners@manchester.ac.uk.
Expenses Claims
External Examiners must submit a PR9, a bespoke External Examiner expense claim, to be reimbursed for any travel or sustenance costs incurred through their role. This is typically incurred during the completion of the final exam board.
Please return the claim with itemised receipts for each expense to external.examiner@manchester.ac.uk. Upon receipt, the claim will be processed, authorised and sent to our expenses department for payment.
Accommodation or flights should be arranged through the school and will not be reimbursed via the External Examiner claim form. Please see the University’s Guidance on expenses to see further details on what is included.
An expense claim form is not required to claim annual payment. This will be paid automatically on receipt of annual report.
Nomination
A New External Examiner Nomination Form must be submitted to begin the process of appointing a new External Examiner. This should be completed and signed off by the school and approved by Faculty before being submitted, along with the nominee’s CV, to external.examiner@manchester.ac.uk for processing.
Please refer to the ‘Criteria for the nomination of External Examiners’ (Section 4 of the Guidance on External Examiner Procedures).
An OW1 must be completed and submitted alongside the nomination form if the nominee is based outside the UK and will be completing the role remotely.
Amended/Additional Duties
If the school wish to amend or add duties of an active External Examiner (has been sent an offer of engagement letter), they must complete an additional appointment/amended duties form.
This form must be approved at school and faculty level and submitted, along with evidence of the External Examiners’ agreement, to external.examiners@manchester.ac.uk for processing. An amendment letter will be sent to the External Examiner to reflect the changes in their duties.
Extension Requests
If the school wish to extend the appointment of an active External Examiner’s appointment, they must complete an extension request form. The maximum request is one year, and the External Examiner’s appointment cannot exceed 5 years.
An extension request will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and the External Examiner team reserve the right to refuse extension if criteria is not met.
This form must be approved at school and faculty level and submitted, along with evidence of the External Examiners’ agreement, to external.examiners@manchester.ac.uk for processing. An amended end date letter will be sent to the External Examiner to reflect the changes in their appointment’s end date.
For general queries, please e-mail External.Examiners@manchester.ac.uk