welcome external examiners’ induction october 2015 checking eligibility to work in the uk to...

WELCOMEExternal Examiners’ Induction

October 2015

Checking Eligibility to Work in the UK

To comply with UK Border Agency legal obligations for employment checks under the provision of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 it is a requirement of your appointment that you are able to provide documentary proof that you are eligible to work in the UK.

•Today you will be asked to sign to confirm that you have provided original documentary proof to comply with the above requirement

•Your passport will be checked and copied to confirm that the documentary proof is acceptable.

•Your passport will be returned to you later in the morning.

Please do not leave without it

14 October 2015 EXTERNAL EXAMINER INDUCTION1

WELCOME

External Examiners’ InductionOctober 2015

Professor Gwendolen Bradshaw, PVC (Learning, Teaching & Quality)

Alison Carass (Academic Policy & Regulation)Sue Ledger (External Examining)


• Welcome to the University and Introductions

• UK Quality Code for Higher Education (Quality and Enhancement)

• Current initiatives


Assessment Committees and Boards of Examiners


Assessment Committees

• Consider performance in individual modules and assign definitive marks which may not be changed thereafter

• Membership includes Internal Examiners and Module External Examiners.

• Quorum: Chair, Module Leader, or nominee, for all modules under consideration.

• If Module External Examiners are unable to attend their views should be taken into account and they should agree the outcomes.

• Alternatively, they may attend by Skype/telephone or video conference. No approval needed for non-attendance or use of Skype etc.


Assessment Committees (2) • May scale marks and should report any scaling to Boards

of Examiners who received the marks concerned.

• An Assessment Committee may change an individual mark provided that this is done with the concurrence of those internal examiners who have reviewed all the work for the module concerned.

• This might be done on the basis of a recommendation to the Internal Examiners for the module from the External Examiner who has reviewed only a sample of work.


Extenuating Circumstances Sub-committees

• Consider claims for extenuating circumstances submitted by students

• meet prior to the Board of Examiners• make recommendations on whether circumstances

should be accepted to the Board of Examiners.• the Board of Examiners receives recommendations

and makes a decision on course of action to be taken


Boards of Examiners

•Consider progression and award, including classification of Honours Degrees

•May not change any of the marks awarded by an Assessment Committee

•Take Extenuating Circumstances into account


Boards of Examiners (2)

• Membership includes Internal Examiners and course and/or personal tutors for students under review plus Programme External Examiners

• Quorum: Chair, Programme Leader, or nominee, for all Programmes under consideration, Programme External Examiner. A representative from AQPO must also be in attendance

• Faculties should consult External Examiners when arranging dates for Boards


Boards of Examiners (3) Undergraduate Programmes•External Examiners are required to attend all meetings, including those for Partnership Provision, which are considering for the first time the progression and award for that cohort of students.•Attendance is not required at supplementary Boards of Examiners considering progression and award following re-assessment, if no issues are identified with module assessments at the Main Board and none are anticipated in relation to supplementary assessments.•If significant issues have emerged in the supplementary period then the External Examiner will be expected to attend.



Postgraduate Programmes•External Examiners are required to attend all meetings, including those for Partnership Provision, where awards are being considered for the first time.

•External Examiners are not required at any interim Boards held at the end of the taught component to consider either the supplementary assessment required for students to gain the award or making awards to students following re-assessment in the project/dissertation.

•Again, if issues are identified in the original assessments or significant issues are anticipated, or have emerged, in relation to the supplementary assessment, then the External Examiner will be expected to attend.



•If External Examiner is unable to attend the Board, the approval of the PVC (Learning, Teaching & Quality) must be given in order for the Board to go ahead. The External Examiner’s views must be taken into account and they should agree the outcomes before results are released.•If an External Examiner cannot attend a meeting, it is possible to facilitate this, if appropriate, via Skype or Telephone/Video Conferencing. This should be done in such a way as to enable the External to participate in the meeting as if they were actually present.


Progression and Award(University Regulations)


SUMMARY OF PROGRESSION REGULATIONS

(Individual Faculties may have waivers in relation to specific programmes, due to professional/validating Body requirements)

Foundation Year / Certificate of HE / Diploma of HE / Foundation Degree / Honours Degree of Bachelor

• All Stages: 40.0% in 100 credits, 35.0% in the other 20.


Ordinary Degree

•All students register for an Honours Degree in the first instance.

•Students may progress to the Ordinary Degree (if offered) at Stage 2 or Stage 3 if they do not meet the criteria for Honours progression at the end of Stage 1 or Stage 2, but achieve 40.0% in 80 credits, and 35.0% in another 20 credits.

•At Stages 2 & 3: 40.0% in 80 credits, 35.0% in 20 credits.

•Students must have undertaken all permitted attempts at supplementary assessment for Honours programme before transfer to Ordinary degree.


Integrated Degree of Master (e.g. MPharm, MEng, MChem)

•Students take 480 credits over 4 Stages.

•Eligibility at each Stage is the same as that for the Honours Degree of Bachelor, unless a waiver applies


Postgraduate Taught Programmes

Postgraduate Certificate • 60 credits, with at least 40.0% in 40 credits and 35.0% in other 20

Postgraduate Diploma

• 120 credits, with at least 40.0% in 100 credits and 35.0% in other 20.

Master's Degree

• 180 credits, with at least 40% in 160 credits and 35.0% in other 20.


PROGRESSION REGULATIONS:Undergraduate•All students have a right to a Second attempt although this might not be in the August supplementary period. Will be permitted to take supplementary Assessment as follows:•80 credits or more below 40% - repeat year with attendance•70 credits or more below 40% - repeat individual modules•60 credits or less below 40% - supplementary assessment in August.•Automatic Third Attempt if meet requirement to achieve 40% in 80 credits•Automatic referral in up to 20 credits•40% Carry forward markPostgraduate•All students have the right to one supplementary assessment•35% Carry forward mark


AWARD OF UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE: Calculation and Classification

• Students are required to meet the credit requirements

• Best 100 Credits from Stage 2 and Stage 3 used in calculation of Degree

• Weighting between Stages 2 and 3 is 20/80

• Setting of Degree Classification Boundaries is fixed as follows:• First Class Honours 68.0%• Second Class Honours - First Division 58.0%• Second Class Honours - Second Division 48.0%• Third class Honours Below 48%


AWARD OF UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE (2): Merit and Distinction•Boundaries for Merit and Distinction at undergraduate level, for example, Cert HE, Dip HE and Ordinary Degree are now fixed as follows:

•68.0% = Distinction•58.0% = Merit

•The Best 100 credits will be used when calculating the award of Merit or Distinction

•Students with agreed Extenuating Circumstances may be considered for a classification of award other than that indicated by the above calculation


AWARD OF POSTGRADUATE DEGREE:Calculation and Award of Merit and Distinction

•Students are required to meet the credit requirements and all credit is used in calculation of the award of Merit or Distinction.

•The boundaries for Merit and Distinction are now fixed as follows:

•68.0% = Distinction•58.0% = Merit

•In addition to the overall average, students on the Masters programme are required to achieve a Project/Dissertation mark of at least 60% for Merit and at least 70% for Distinction.

•Students with agreed Extenuating Circumstances may be considered for a classification of award other than that indicated by the above calculation


External Examining at Bradford



• The QAA UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Chapter B7,External Examining, sets out the following Expectation about external examining, which Higher Education institutions are required to meet:

Higher education providers make scrupulous use of external examiners



• Guide for External Examining of Taught Programmes has been developed in line with the QAA UK Quality Code Chapter B7 to assist External Examiners, staff, partners and students understand the role at Bradford

• http://www.brad.ac.uk/aqpo/documents-templates-and-downloads/a-z/external-examining-for-taught-programmes.php


What we expect from our External Examiners

We hope that our External Examiners will:

•Be a Critical Friend•Offer independent assessment of our academic standards and quality •Ensure that our students are dealt with fairly in the assessment and classification process •Identify and share good practice


What our External Examiners can expect from us

We hope that our External Examiners will:

•Feel supported by dedicated Central and Faculty resources•Understand what their role is from the outset•Receive all the information required in a timely manner to carry out their duties effectively•Feel confident to have open and frank discussion and to know that their comments have been considered


External Examiner roles at Bradford

All our External Examiners are responsible for a group of Modules. In addition, most of our External Examiners are also responsible for a Programme or group of Programmes.

An important element of the role is to ensure that the threshold academic standards across all Modules and Programmes are:

• Being maintained• Comparable• In line with University regulations


Main Duties of External Examiners

Modules

This part of the role is to provide confirmation that the module assessments have been:

•Appropriately designed in line with FHEQ levels and individual module learning outcomes•Marked in a fair and equitable manner

And that good quality feedback has been given to students in a timely way


Main Duties of External Examiners

Programmes

This part of the role, where applicable, is to ensure that Programmes are:•Aligned to National Subject benchmarks •In line with University regulations•Meet the Programme learning outcomes

And that the assessment process has been carried out in a fair and equitable manner.


Main Duties of External Examiners• Preparation

Handbooks, Regulations, FHEQ, Subject benchmark statements, ongoing dialogue with teams

• Reviewall assessment briefs – both examination and coursework titles

• Samplingrepresentative sample of work

• Confirmationof marks and of awards made

• ReportingAnnual report form, one per examiner


Recognition of Prior LearningAll Recognition of Prior Learning is approved at an Assessment Committee/RPL meeting.External Examiners are required to sample:•Mapping documents for recognition of prior certificated learning•Proposals for recognition of prior experiential learningThe process is outlined in the Guide to Recognition of Prior Learning and on the web at:http://www.bradford.ac.uk/aqpo/assessment-and-external-examining/recognition-of-prior-learning/


Working with Partner Institutions

The University of Bradford assumes full responsibility for external examining at Partner Institutions:•Some External Examiners will have a role examining programmes and modules at Partner institutions in the UK and overseas•External Examiners have the same role for programmes and modules operating at Partner Institutions; this includes sampling work, confirming marks, progression and award and assuring the quality of the provision there•There is a specific section in the Annual Report to compare Partner programmes with the onsite programmes and to identify any specific strengths or weaknesses there.


Student Information• The name, position and institution of External

Examiners are included in handbooks for students• Students may not contact External Examiners

directly and any such contact should be referred to Academic Quality & Partnerships Office in the first instance

• External Examiner reports are published in their entirety on a secured part of the AQPO website for access by staff, students, partners and external examiners

• Students have access to Annual Reports as members of University decision making committees


ReportingAll External Examiners are required to complete an Annual Report. •The Report is updated and emailed each academic year to External Examiners for completion by the deadline:•30 August for Undergraduate programmes•30 November for Postgraduate programmes•Or four weeks after the last Board of Examiners


Reporting (2)The Annual Report is very important to the enhancement planning for the Programmes, Faculties and for the Quality Management of the University:

•http://www.bradford.ac.uk/aqpo/documents-templates-and-downloads/a-z/external-examiner-annual-report-template-14-15.php


Judging StandardsAs a checklist you might want to think about these questions:

Standards•What are the threshold standards?•Are the standards set at validation being maintained?•Does the curriculum remain valid, current and coherent?•Is there comparability and consistency of standards across the Programmes/Modules?•Are assessment criteria, marking schemes etc. set at the appropriate levels?•Are threshold standards comparable with other HEIs in the same subject/at the same level that you are familiar with?


Judging Standards (2)Process•Are the assessments appropriate, properly designed and applied fairly and equitably?•Is the marking at the right level?•Has RPL been mapped and assessed appropriately?•Has the marking scheme/grading criteria been properly applied?•Do students receive appropriate written feedback?•Is assessment being carried out in accordance with our own academic regulations?•Is the Board of Examiners/Assessment Committee operation appropriate?•Are the procedures governing extenuating circumstances and academic misconduct applied fairly?


Judging Standards (3)EnhancementIs there good practice and innovation observed in relation to learning, teaching and assessment?Are there any opportunities to enhance the quality of students’ learning?

Partnership provisionDid you have enough information about the partnership programme?Are you able to compare the provision against onsite provision?Are there are strengths or weaknesses specific to this provision?


University Response to ReportsThe University will write to you in response to your Annual Report form including:

•University response to institutional issues raised by External Examiners•Action Plan detailing Faculty actions and responses to issues and recommendations made by you

The Action Plan will also form part of enhancement planning for the Faculty and quality management of the University


Causes for concern• Examiners may alert the Vice Chancellor directly to

serious failings in standards or process where there is no satisfactory response from the department/Faculty, etc.

• QAA’s Concerns Scheme and/or equivalent PSRB mechanisms may also be invoked


Fees and Expenses• The fee for external examining is paid normally on

receipt of the Annual Report

• Expenses can be claimed in relation to attendance at meetings

• Full details are in the Guide at Appendix 3


Resources: University of Bradford Academic Quality & Partnerships Office http://www.brad.ac.uk/aqpo/ •General Information; Board of Examiners meetings information pack; Regulations for award bearing taught courses of study; University Ordnances and Policies

Higher Education Academy External Examining Handbookhttps://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/HE_Academy_External_Examiners_Handbook_2012.pdf


Resources: Framework for Higher Education Qualifications and Subject Benchmarks:http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code/quality-code-part-a

QAA UK Quality Code Chapter B7 – External Examininghttp://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/quality-code-B7.pdf University of Bradford Regulations:http://www.bradford.ac.uk/aqpo/ordinances-and-regulations/


Academic Quality & Partnerships Office

Academic Quality Officer:External ExaminingSue LedgerTel: 01274 233231Email: [email protected]://www.bradford.ac.uk/aqpo/assessment-and-external-examining/external-examining/


• Any questions?

• Evaluation form

• Department meetings this afternoon – Representatives to meet us for lunch and take you to your session in the Faculty


Thank you


welcome external examiners’ induction october 2015 checking eligibility to work in the uk to...

Documents

module external examiners

internal examiners

module leader

scale marks

definitive marks

sample of work

original documentary

individual modules