Information on Appointment of Examiners and Assessors

This page provides information on the appointment of Examiners and Assessors for undergraduate and taught postgraduate degrees.

Appointment of examiners for postgraduate research degrees (including MPhil by thesis, MSc, MLitt, PhD and other doctoral degrees, and a number of Diplomas and Certificates) and assessors for the probationary review of doctoral students is the responsibility of Degree Committees. Staff involved in the examination of postgraduate research degrees can request access to guidance on the Postgraduate Research Office SharePoint.

Q. Who appoints Examiners?

General Board appointments

The General Board formally appoints Examiners for all undergraduate examinations leading to a University award and for taught Master's awards. Examinations for which the General Board makes appointments are:

Preliminary and Qualifying examinations;
Honours (Tripos) examinations;
Examinations for the degrees of LL.M., M.C.L., M.B.A., M.Ed., M.Fin., M.B., B.Chir., Vet.M.B., Mus.B., MPhil by Advanced Study, M.Res., and M.St.;
Examinations for all Diplomas;
The examination for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education and the Certificate of Postgraduate Study;
The Examination in Law for European students;
The Qualifying Examination in Theology for Ministry, and the First and Second Examinations for the degree of B.Th.

Examiners formally appointed by the General Board are nominated by the body specified in the regulations for each examination, found in Statutes and Ordinances. Typically, this is the Faculty Board, Syndicate, or Degree Committee. For each examination, a Chair of Examiners or a Senior Examiner, and one or more Examiners and Assessors should be nominated.

Q. Who appoints Assessors?

All Assessors are appointed by the relevant Faculty Board or Degree Committee.

Q. General responsibilities of those nominating Examiners to the General Board and appointing Assessors

Nominating bodies should make every effort to ensure that all nominations are reasonably certain before presenting them to the General Board. They should consider leaves of absence, including sabbaticals, well in advance and seek confirmation from nominees before submitting names to the General Board. The Chair of Examiners should also be informed of the nominations and appointments.

Nominated Examiners and Assessors should be informed of their appointment as follows:

External Examiners - EQPO will issue letters of appointment to External Examiners for all undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes on appointment by the General Board;
Examiners (including Senior Examiners and Chair of Examiners) - EQPO will issue letters of appointment to all Examiners except to those appointed to examine MPhil by Advanced Study, MRes and MSt programmes. Degree Committees will issue letters of appointment for those programmes once appointment is approved.
Assessors - Faculty Board/Degree Committee will issue letters of appointment to Assessors.

The Faculty Board/Degree Committee and the Chair of Examiners/Senior Examiner are responsible for ensuring that Examiners, External Examiners and Assessors are sent appropriate local information and guidelines, including any approved classing criteria or marking schemes, the relevant examinations data retention policies and any other pertinent information.

Appropriate induction and/or training should be provided for new Examiners and Assessors. The Centre for Personal and Professional Development offers some courses in this area which may help faculties and departments.

Q. Timetable of appointments and nominations

Examiners for Undergraduate Courses

All internal and external undergraduate Tripos examiner nominations are approved by the General Board via the Education Quality & Policy Office (EQPO). The relevant nomination forms can be found here.

The completed forms should be forwarded to examiners@admin.cam.ac.uk by the relevant nominating body to the following timetable:

Chair of Examiners: not later than the first day of the Full Michaelmas Term in the academical year in which the examination is to be held
Senior Examiners (where applicable): not later than the first day of the Full Michaelmas Term in the academical year in which the examination is to be held
Examiners and External Examiners: not later than the division of the Michaelmas Term of the academic year in which the examination is to be held
A list of Assessors should be forwarded to examiners@admin.cam.ac.uk not later than four weeks before the beginning of the examination

If it is clear that nominations will not be received by EQPO on time, you should inform the Office of the likely timescale; in this eventuality, late appointments are better than wrong appointments.

Examiners for taught Postgraduate Courses

Examiner nominations for all postgraduate courses other than the MPhil by Thesis, MSc, MLitt, PhD, and other doctoral degrees, are also approved by this process. The relevant forms can be found on the link above. Examiners should be nominated according to the timetable above except for External and Senior Examiners who must be appointed by the end of the Michaelmas Term of the academic year of the examination. Again, if this is not possible, please let EQPO know (via examiners@admin.cam.ac.uk).

In the case of MSt degrees, the Degree Committee should also communicate the names of Examiners and Assessors to the Secretary of the Strategic Committee for the Institute of Continuing Education.

EQPO will consider the nominations and raise any potential concerns within ten working days of receipt. After this time the Degree Committee may proceed to confirm appointment as outlined in the 'General responsibilities' section above.

Q. Who can be nominated as an Examiner or Assessor?

Examiner or Assessor?

Examiners have more responsibilities than Assessors. For example, Examiners set the papers for the examinations, they attend Examination Board meetings and they sign off the class lists. Examiners also share responsibility for the decisions of the Examination Board.

Assessors, on the other hand, are usually only appointed to contribute to the marking of papers. They can be appointed later in the academical year (up to four weeks before the Examination) and they do not have to attend the Examination Board's meetings (but can be called to meetings by Examiners to account for their marks). It might be appropriate to appoint an assessor to mark a dissertation as well as specific papers.

Some Triposes will have special regulations setting out the responsibilities of Examiners and Assessors (see Statutes and Ordinances).

Nomination of Examiners

Examiners are appointed by the General Board for one year at a time. There is no restriction on the number of consecutive years that an individual may be appointed for a particular examination.

Wherever possible, Boards of Examiners should include at least one Examiner who does not contribute to the teaching programmes associated with the examination.

The following people can be nominated as Examiners:

established University teaching officers;
unestablished University teaching officers;
College teaching officers;
research assistants;
research associates;
senior research associates.

Persons registered as undergraduate or postgraduate students at this or any other institution may not be nominated as Examiners - Special Ordinance A (viii). 5.

Appointment of Assessors

Assessors are appointed by Faculty Boards and Degree Committees, also for one year at a time. There is no restriction on the number of consecutive years that an individual may be appointed for a particular examination.

All categories of persons eligible for appointment as an Examiner are also eligible for appointment as an Assessor. Under special circumstances, postgraduate students of the University, or non-University experts who are appropriately trained, may act as Assessors: a written application by the nominating body must be made to EQPO (via examiners@admin.cam.ac.uk), which acts for the General Board in these cases.

Nomination of External Examiners from outside the UK

The appointment of an External Examiner from outside of the UK must first be approved by the Education Quality and Policy Office (via examiners@admin.cam.ac.uk). Approval must then be attached to expenses claims for air travel and accommodation. Please note that if approval is not sought, the relevant Faculty or Department may become liable for part of the expenses claim.

Q. Who can be nominated as an External Examiner?

There may be some variability in the roles of External Examiners between different disciplines, however the General Board's expectations are set out in its guidance on the arrangements for External Examiners of undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes. For further information, see the sections on roles and duties in:

External Examiners are appointed by the General Board for one year at a time, but may be nominated for re-appointment for up to two additional years. If you wish to nominate an External for a fourth consecutive year, please include a case with the nomination form.

Once they have completed their tenure, they may not be appointed until a period of five years has elapsed. Exceptions to this rule may be allowed by the General Board if the nominating body can demonstrate that there are special circumstances.

Nominating bodies should pay close attention to the General Board's guidance on the arrangements for External Examiners when considering the appointment or re-appointment of External Examiners. The guidance provides advice on the number of nominations to make and the criteria for appointment and re-appointment.

The most important factors to consider include:

that those appointed should normally be persons of seniority and must certainly have appropriate experience and/or knowledge and the ability to command respect in the subject. In certain circumstances, it is appropriate that persons from outside the higher education system, e.g. from industry or the professions, be invited to act;
that, when considering re-appointment, the External Examiner has acted appropriately in the past and has submitted the required report(s) to the Vice-Chancellor in good time;
that the External Examiner can provide an independent and critical view of the examinations, by avoiding potential conflicts of interest (either professional or personal), through ensuring that the proposed External Examiner:
1. does not hold an office in the University, or a Fellowship or some office or post in a College;
2. does not teach any course of instruction which forms part of the teaching programme for the examination concerned;
3. is not a former member of staff of the University, unless more than five years have passed since their departure;
4. is not employed at an institution where members of Cambridge institutions in the same discipline are acting in similar capacities, (wherever possible);
5. is not employed at the same institution as his or her immediate predecessors (where possible).

Due care should be taken by the Faculty or Department concerned that adequate induction for the External Examiner has been undertaken by each person nominated.

Q. United Kingdom Border Agency and Right to Work rules

Guidance on checks required on External Examiners by the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA)

If an Examiner has been appointed from an overseas institution, the Department/Faculty should make sure that the appropriate checks and visas have been obtained. There are two entry route options:

the 'visitor carrying out a permitted paid engagement' route; or
through the Temporary Worker GAE visa route.

The most appropriate route will depend on the arrangement the Examiner has with the University. For more information see: http://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/hr-services/immigration

Right to work

HMRC requirements mean that the University has an obligation to ensure that all examiners and assessors of undergraduate level courses have the right to work in the UK. Faculties and Departments are therefore asked to request that all Examiners for whom right to work checks are required bring proof of their right to work when they arrive for the Examiners' meeting, and that a photocopy is made of the evidence provided and that it is countersigned to confirm that it is a 'true copy'. This evidence should be retained for as long as someone is working with you and for audit purposes for at least two years.

A list of documents that are acceptable as proof of right to work can be found at: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/right/

Under HMRC requirements, all undergraduate examiners and assessors will have to provide proof of right to work, regardless of their nationality, but employees of the University are exempt. Please note that CTOs and JRFs are not employees of the University.

These checks need to be done only once - even for External Examiners - unless the examiner has a limited period visa, in which case their right to work will need to be checked again when the visa runs out.

External Examiners for all postgraduate level degrees fall under the 'self-employed' category, which does not require right to work checks to be conducted. Right to work checks are not required for internal examiners and assessors for postgraduate level courses.