External Examining is one of the principal means of maintaining academic standards across the UK. Suitably qualified and experienced External Examiners are appointed to provide informative comment and recommendations upon whether or not:

• the University is maintaining the threshold academic standards
• the assessment process measures student achievement rigorously and fairly against the intended outcomes of the programme(s) and is conducted in line with the University's policies and regulations
• the academic standards and the achievements of students of the University are comparable with those in other UK higher education institutions

All assessment tasks and student work is marked and moderated by internal members of staff before being sent to the External Examiner. In order to carry out their role, External Examiners are asked to comment on assessment tasks, moderate a sample of student work, endorse Assessment Board decisions, and provide the University with an annual report.

At the end of each academic year, the annual reports and the responses to them are made available to students via the Student's Union Website, and via the Collaborative Partner. Students will also have the opportunity to discuss the reports during staff/student committee meetings. Students can request a copy of a particular External Examiner's report in full by emailing quality@shu.ac.uk.

Students may be asked to attend meetings with the External Examiner. The purpose of these meetings is to allow the External Examiner to gain student feedback on modules, course and experience. It would not be appropriate to discuss individual people and/or assessments.

Methods of discussing individual assessments, and engaging with quality management and enhancement processes should already be familiar to you, however if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact your tutor.