Examiner appointments and payments

The nominations of all Chairs of Examiners are subject to formal approval from the Proctors. Chairs of Examiners must not carry out any part of their duties until their appointment is confirmed on the Examiner Appointments and Payments WebLearn site.

Appointments of Chairs of Examiners:

Please see Part 5 of the Regulations for the Conduct of University Examinations.

1. At the end of Trinity term (mid-late June), E&A will issue the Chair nomination form to all departments.
2. The Senior Nominator must provide details of the nominee for each exam board listed on the form and return the completed form to E&A at examiners@admin.ox.ac.uk by no later than 1 October. Note: In the event that the Senior Nominator is a nominee, another member of the nominating committee with an appropriate level of academic seniority should provide a counter-authorisation of the nominations.
3. Upon receipt of the completed and appropriately authorised form, E&A will process the nominations. E&A may request additional information such as bank details from appointees or confirmation of right to work (RTW) from departments where applicable.
4. The nomination forms and all relevant supporting information are submitted to the Proctors for their approval.

1. Once the Proctors have approved the nominations and any requested RTW checks have been returned, E&A will list the names of the appointed Chairs of Examiners in the ‘Confirmed Appointments 2018-19 folder on the Examiner Appointments and Payments WebLearn site. All appointed Chairs of Examiners will be added as members of the site.

Additional information:

For joint school examinations where the Chair of Examiners is nominated on a rotating basis between multiple nominating committees, E&A will indicate on the nomination forms which of the nominating committees is to nominate the Chair of Examiners for any particular academic year.

Any queries which the Proctors may have on the nominations will be sent to E&A in the first instance. E&A will then forward all queries to the relevant department, requesting the submission of a clear response for forwarding to the Proctors prior to confirming the Proctors’ decision.

The nomination of any examiner and assessor which meets the eligibility criteria outlined in Part 3.1 and  Part 7.2 of the Regulations for the Conduct of University Examinations will not require approval from the Proctors.

E&A will provide a list of all existing examiners (including Chair of Examiners) and assessors who have held an appointment within the previous five academic years with the relevant nomination forms.

For each of the nominees who require formal approval from the Proctors (ie new examiners/assessors), departments must submit a supporting information form for internal examiners detailing the role that the nominee will have in the examination, the level of prior teaching and examining experience, and the methods by which the department will provide guidance and support.

Examiners or  assessors must not carry out any examining duties until their appointment has been listed on the Examiner Appointments and Payments WebLearn site.

Appointments of Internal Examiners:

Please See Part 3 of the Regulations for the Conduct of University Examinations.

1. During the long vacation (mid-late August), E&A issues each supervisory body/nominating committee with examiners nomination forms corresponding to each exam board for which the committee is responsible.
2. The Senior Nominator must oversee the completion of the nomination forms (see instruction tab on the examiner nominations form for full instructions on completing the form) and authorise the nominations. Note: if an identical list of examiners is to be nominated across multiple exam boards, only one form needs to be completed and returned to E&A, providing that the Senior Nominator indicates clearly all of the exam boards for which the authorisation applies.
3. The Senior Nominator must return the examiner nomination forms (with all of the necessary supporting information) to E&A at examiners@admin.ox.ac.uk by no later than 1st October, detailing at least the minimum composition of the exam board. The minimum composition of the exam board includes the Chair of Examiners, one internal examiner and one external examiner. The only exception to this is for First Public (Prelims) Examinations, for which the minimum composition of the exam board includes the Chair of Examiners and one internal examiner.
4. E&A will process the forms and determine whether any nominations require formal approval from the Proctors to confirm the appointments. E&A may also request additional information such as bank details from appointees or confirmation of RTW, where applicable.
5. Nominations requiring Proctors’ approval will be forwarded to the Proctors along with the required supporting information forms. Any queries which the Proctors may have on the nominations will be sent to E&A in the first instance. E&A will then forward all queries to the relevant department, requesting a clear response to be passed back to the Proctors.
6. Upon receipt of Proctors’ approval and all required RTW checks, E&A confirms the appointment by adding the examiners to the ‘Confirmed Appointments 2018-19 folder on the Examiner Appointments and Payments WebLearn site. Each appointed examiner will be added as a member of the site.

Appointments of Assessors

Please see Part 7 of the Regulations for the Conduct of University Examinations.

Process for appointing Assessors:

1. In October, E&A issues each supervisory body/nominating committee with assessors nomination forms corresponding to each exam board for which the committee is responsible.
2. The Chair of Examiners for each exam board is responsible for overseeing the completion of the assessor nomination forms (see instruction tab on the assessor nominations form for full instructions on completing the form).
3. The Chair of Examiners must approve the nominations of all assessors and return the nomination form to E&A at examiners@admin.ox.ac.uk for processing, along with all appropriate supporting information forms. The Senior Nominator may authorise all assessor nominations in the absence of the Chair. Note: If an identical list of assessors is to be nominated across multiple exam boards, only one form needs to be completed, providing that the Chair or Senior Nominator indicates clearly all of the exam boards for which the authorisation applies.
4. E&A will process the nomination form and determine whether any of the nominees require formal approval from the Proctors to confirm their appointments. E&A may also request additional information such as bank details from appointees or confirmation of RTW, where applicable.
5. Nominations requiring Proctors’ approval will be forwarded to the Proctors along with the required supporting information forms. Any queries which the Proctors may have on the nominations will be sent to E&A in the first instance. E&A will then forward all queries to the relevant department, requesting the submission of a clear response to be passed back to the Proctors.
6. Upon receipt of Proctors’ approval and all required RTW checks, E&A confirms the appointment by adding the examiners to the ‘Confirmed Appointments 2018-19 folder on the Examiner Appointments and Payments WebLearn site.

Additional information:

In FHS examinations, the Chair of the main school for any particular nominating committee may authorise the nomination of assessors to all the joint schools which require assessors to be appointed from the same nominating committee. For example, the Chair of Examiners for FHS History may authorise the appointment/nomination of assessors for the History components of the examinations in FHS History & English, FHS History & Modern Languages, FHS History & Politics, etc.

Appointment of Postgraduate Research student assessors

Please see Annex H of the Policy and Guidance for examiners and others involved in University Examinations.

All Postgraduate Research (PGR) student appointments are for one term only and will require formal approval by the Proctors for each term in which they are to act. All nominations of PGR student assessors must be treated as a ‘new appointment’ each term.

PGR student nominations must be submitted to E&A accompanied by a completed supporting information form for PGR students which must clearly detail the support and guidance which the student nominee will receive from a senior member of academic staff. If the same PGR student is nominated in a subsequent term, a new supporting information form for PGR students must be completed and submitted with the nomination form.

The use of Postgraduate Research (PGR) students to carry out examining duties on Postgraduate (PG) taught courses should only be considered as a last resort where all other possible solutions have been exhausted. In exceptional cases where a PGR student is nominated to carry out examining duties on PG taught courses, this must be clearly indicated to the E&A team and submitted with the appropriate supporting information form. The form must clearly outline the nature of the circumstances, and why they are exceptional.

Please see Part 6 of the Regulations for the Conduct of University Examinations and Annex J of the Policy and Guidance for examiners and others involved in University Examinations.

Every examination except First Public Examinations must have at least one external examiner appointed to act in the role of arbiter of standards.

Senior nominators must ensure that external examiners are available to attend the relevant exam board meetings when confirming their appointments. As such, it is important that exam board meeting dates are confirmed as early as possible.

Process for appointing External Examiners

The same process for appointment of internal examiners also applies to external examiners.

New appointment of External Examiners

All new appointments of external examiners will require formal approval from the Proctors. When nominating an external examiner for a new appointment, the nominating committee/supervisory body must submit a copy of the nominee’s CV and a completed supporting information form for externals detailing the role of the external examiner in the examination and their level of teaching/examining expertise.

External Examiners within the three or four years’ term of office

Approval from the Proctors will not be required when confirming the appointment of externals within the term of their original appointment, ie for the second, third or fourth year of their existing appointment on the examination. In these instances, the externals will be listed in the external examiners table on the nomination forms (see instructions tab on the examiner nomination form for full instructions) for the supervisory body/nominating committee to re-appoint directly as ‘existing’ external examiners.

Extending an External Examiner’s appointment for a fifth year

The term of office outlined in regulation for external examiners is three or four years. The supervisory body/nominating committee may request permission from the Proctors to extend the term of office for an external examiner to an exceptional fifth year. The request must be submitted to E&A and will be subject to the Proctors’ approval. The supervisory body/nominating committee is required to submit an explanation for any such request, and should be advised that it is at the Proctors’ discretion whether such requests are approved.

It is a legal requirement that appropriate right to work (RTW) checks must have taken place before an individual conducts any examining work. Departments are responsible for carrying out RTW checks for any individual who is to conduct examining work, and for providing this information to E&A when requested.

Departments/divisions must also ensure that a physical copy of the RTW is retained.

Once E&A has the appropriate confirmation indicating that a satisfactory RTW check has been completed, the appointment will be confirmed (please see note below for external examiners).

Departments must ensure that Chairs of Examiners, examiners, and assessors do not carry out any examining work until their appointments have been confirmed. Confirmed appointments are published by E&A in the ‘Confirmed Appointments 2018-19 folder on the Examiner Appointments and Payments WebLearn site.

Note: If required, the RTW check for any external examiner can be carried out by the department and confirmed to E&A at the point of their arrival in Oxford for the first time.

Departments and colleges can rely on each other’s RTW checks for examiners/assessors appointed to undergraduate courses as casual workers if the following conditions are met prior to undertaking work:

• The casual worker is List A.
• The department/college which has a RTW of the casual worker sends a copy of the scanned RTW (electronic or hard-copy) to the department engaging the worker (Note: an email with RTW information or confirmation of the RTW only is not sufficient, and departments/college may not always agree to provide a copy).
• Check the details in the copy of RTW received as per normal process of carrying out RTW checks and keep the RTW copy on file (electronic or hard-copy) along with details of where (i.e. which department or college) the original RTW check is held.

A department cannot use copies of RTW if:

• The casual worker has a List B visa. A right to work check must be completed for each engagement.
• They are an employee - a full right to work check is required.