Court of Examiners
The end-of-year and degree results for all taught courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels are formally received by, and the overall result or classification for each candidate confirmed by, a Court of Examiners. Results for students on courses offered by more than one discipline are considered at discipline examiners meetings before being presented to the Court of Examiners for that course. Courts of Examiners are convened by the chair who may be a Head of School or Discipline, the Dean of the relevant Faculty, the Course Co-Ordinator, or, in the case of the Two-Subject Moderatorship, the chair of the Two-Subject Moderatorship Committee, as appropriate to the course(s) in question. Proper notice of the date, time and venue of meetings must be given by the chair to all examiners concerned.
- Attendance at Court of Examiners
- Record of Meetings
- Information for Examiners
- Data Protection Act 1988 and Freedom of Information Act 1997
- Prizes
- Gold Medals
- Aegrotat Degree
- Publication of Results
- Amendments arising from the Appeals Process
- Amendments arising from Mark Changes
Attendance at Courts of Examiners
Examiners must attend examiners' meetings. Where an examiner is unable to attend in exceptional circumstances, he or she must nominate in advance a deputy who has been adequately briefed and who is in possession of the examiner's marks and notes.
An examiner should not be present at an examiners' meeting while the performance of any class that includes his or her relative is being considered. In such cases, the examiner should communicate to the Chair in advance of the meeting any special considerations relating to the performance of examinees other than his or her relative. The examiner should also remain available to the meeting to be called, if necessary, to comment upon the performance of any examinee other than his or her relative.
External examiners will normally attend the Court of Examiners for the subject/course in which they have been appointed to examine. Where this is not possible, the Director of Teaching and Learning (Undergraduate) or Course Co-ordinator concerned will make appropriate arrangements locally to ensure that the external review of the examination process is fully completed before the meeting of the Court of Examiners.
Record of meetings
It is the responsibility of the Chair of the Court of Examiners to ensure that a record is kept of decisions taken, including the award of distinctions and prizes and any recommendations in respect of individual students, including recommendations for the award of gold medals. A complete attendance record should also be kept for each meeting, including the names of external examiners present.
Information for examiners
The examination regulations for the relevant course(s), and the criteria for the award of prizes and gold medals, must be available to examiners at all meetings.
Data Protection Act 1988 and Freedom of Information Act 1997 [3]
Under the terms of these acts, a student has the right of access to their personal records. It is the responsibility of all persons and offices holding such data, such as examination results, to ensure they are accurate and kept up to date. Where corrections or adjustments to assessment or examination marks are made by internal or external examiners or by Courts of Examiners during the examining and marking process, or where marks are subsequently amended, a reconciliation must be carried out to ensure the uniformity of data in all copies of the marks sheets and student records, whether paper or electronic versions, which are retained by the office(s) responsible.
Prizes
Prizes are awarded to qualified candidates by the Court of Examiners on the recommendation of examiners in the school or discipline with which the prize is associated and in line with the criteria for the award of the prize as stated in the University Calendar, Prizes and other awards.
Gold medals
Gold medals are awarded by the Board of Trinity College to candidates of the first class who have shown exceptional merit at degree examinations. The relevant criteria should be incorporated into the examination regulations for each course. It is the responsibility of the Chair of the Court of Examiners to forward recommendations for the award of gold medals to the Senior Lecturer in accordance with the criteria applicable to the course(s) in question.
Aegrotat degree
In the event that application is made to the Senior Lecturer for the award of an aegrotat degree, and if the Senior Lecturer is satisfied that a case for the award of an aegrotat degree has been made successfully, he or she will advise the appropriate Court of Examiners accordingly and request that they proceed in the course of their regular meeting to make arrangements for the publication and award of an aegrotat degree at either unclassified honor or ordinary degree level, the level to be determined by reference to the previous appropriate academic record of the candidate. The recommendation of the Court of Examiners is conveyed in writing by the Chair to the Senior Lecturer.
Publication of Results
The results of annual and supplemental examinations are published on the relevant noticeboards as soon as practicable following the Court of Examiners meeting, and also on the College's local webpage. Results obtained by students abroad, if received in time to be considered at the meeting of the appropriate Court of Examiners following the annual examination, should be included in the main body of results for the relevant course and year of course and published in the normal way.
Chairs of Courts of Examiners have involvement in signing any amended results sheets arising from both the Appeals process and a successful mark change due to the re-check of marks and the re-marking of examination scripts as follows:
Amendments arising from the Appeals process
Where it is necessary to amend a published result due to an appeal, the Chair of the Court of First Appeal will forward a detailed minute of the Court's decisions and recommendations to the Senior Lecturer for approval. Upon receipt of formal written approval from the Senior Lecturer, the office responsible for administering the Court of First Appeal will publish amended results sheets, copy the amended sheets to the relevant school(s)/discipline(s) and tutor, and forward both an amended master copy and amended publication sheet to the Examinations Office. All such amendments must be dated and signed by the Chair of the relevant Court of Examiners.
Where an amendment to a published result arises from a decision of the Academic Appeals Committee, a detailed recommendation is forwarded by the Senior Tutor's Office to the University Council for approval. Once approved by the Council, the Senior Tutor's Office will formally advise the office responsible for publishing the results for the course(s) in question that they may proceed to make the necessary amendments to the examination results sheets. All such amendments must be dated and signed by the Chair of the relevant Court of Examiners. A copy of the amended master sheet(s) is then sent to the relevant Director of Teaching and Learning (Undergraduate) and tutor, and an amended master copy together with a copy of the amended publication sheet is forwarded to the Examinations Office.
Amendments arising from mark changes
The procedures governing the re-check of marks and the re-marking of examination scripts are set out in the University Calendar. Any mark changes arising from these procedures must be formally reported by the Director of Teaching and Learning (Undergraduate) to the Chair of the relevant Court of Examiners who will submit the recommended changes to the Senior Lecturer for approval. Where such changes affect the overall result for a student, amendments to the results sheets should be effected as outlined above.