As a higher education provider, the University is required to ensure independent and external participation in the management of threshold academic standards. This includes the appointment of External Examiners for each course, and the involvement of graduates, and academic and industry experts in the validation and review of its courses. These pages provide advice and guidance to externals undertaking these roles.
The use of external examiners
To ensure our courses meet national expectations for standards and specialist content, and are considered relevant by future employers and practitioners, the University works with external examiners. They ensure that assessment arrangements are appropriate for the course learning outcomes and in keeping with university and national expectations, that assessment processes have been followed properly, and that the standard of work is benchmarked.
Find out more on the external examiners’ guidance page.
Course validation, revalidation and review
All Higher Education qualifications in the University go through a validation process before they are run. Once validated, each course will either be revalidated or reviewed periodically – about every six years. Revalidation is used where major changes to the content and structure are proposed by staff. Revalidation is carried out in Colleges with advice from external subject experts and academic staff from across the University. Review happens when no major changes have been proposed but because the course has been running for some time, external experts and student graduates are asked to review the course team's own analysis. This analysis includes looking at course strengths and weaknesses as well as proposals for improvement.
Find out more on the validation advisors’ guidance page.