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Information for Schools


Guidance for Schools


    This guide provides Schools with information on their responsibilities for appointing and supporting External Examiners, coordinating examination and assessment arrangements, providing access to relevant materials, managing annual reports and responding to External Examiner recommendations. The External Examiner Process Map UG and the External Examiner Process Map - PG provide an overview of the key steps in the External Examiner lifecycle, including the roles and responsibilities at each stage.

Understanding the External Examiner Role

  • External Examiners provide impartial and independent advice on degree awarding standards, on student achievement in relation to those standards and on benchmarking of Trinity's education programmes against those of comparable universities.
  • The role of External Examiners as defined by the External Examiner Policy (Taught Programmes) is to evaluate if academic standards are being maintained, ensure examination regulations are followed, moderate on borderline cases and ensure that individual students are treated fairly.
  • The minimum requirement at Trinity is for external examining of the degree awarding years of programmes. Additional requirements vary across schools and disciplines and may be subject to the requirements of external accreditation bodies.
  • The scope and role within specific Schools of external examining differs across Trinity Schools.
  • The term of appointment of external examiners is three years, with the possibility of extension for a further fourth and final year at the discretion of the relevant Dean and will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances.

Before You Nominate

  • Schools are responsible for ensuring that all programmes/streams/modules have external examiners nominated, appointed and approved in line with College approval processes.
  • Schools must ensure that proposed External Examiners meet the eligibility criteria for appointment, as outlined in Section 7.2 of the External Examiner Policy – Taught Programmes.
  • Schools must ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the proposed external examiner and the School.The potential for a conflict of interest may arise in the following examples – note these examples are not exhaustive and are provided for guidance only:

    • Close personal or professional relationships with staff, students or previous experts in their area of responsibility or with a collaborating partner that could lead to undue influence.
    • Reciprocal external examining arrangements involving equivalent programmes should be avoided, including appointments from the same institution as the predecessor External Examiner, or multiple cross –appointments within a School to another institution.
    • External Examiner nominees with a current or previous personal, family or legal relationship with a student being assessed cannot be appointed; or who may have undue influence on the future of students on the programme of study.
    • Research or scholarly collaborations or joint publications, significant or direct involvement and/or close knowledge of one another’s work (Note an exception to this instance may occur in some disciplines where the practice exists of publishing papers with multiple authorship, reflecting collaborative arrangements where not all authors have a direct/close involvement in each other’s work).
    • Any nominee who has an honorary position at the University or has held an honorary position at the University within the last five years.

    How to Nominate an External Examiner

    • Once the Head of School, in consultation with the relevant Course Coordinators and Directors of Teaching and Learning, is satisfied that a proposed External Examiner meets the eligibility criteria and that there are no conflicts of interest, the School must submit an online nomination form and the proposed External Examiner’s CV for approval by the Senior Lecturer/Dean of Undergraduate Studies or the Dean of Graduate Studies, as appropriate.
    • To request an extension of an existing External Examiner’s appointment for a fourth and final year, Schools must submit a request using the online nomination form, providing a rationale for the proposed extension.
    • A process map outlining the nomination and approval process for External Examiners, including the roles and responsibilities at each stage, is available here.
    • Instructions for the Online EE Nominations Process can be found here
      • . Tips to manage the Online EE Nominations Process 'Approvals' section in Teams can be found here

    Responsibilities of Schools to External Examiners

  • Schools are responsible for documenting their own internal quality assurance practices that support the external examiner process including those that support:
    • drafting of examination questions (summative and supplemental exams), internal quality assurance of draft exam scripts prior to their review by external examiners, and responding to recommendations for change, made by the external examiner;
    • marking of exam scripts, including the drafting of model answers, rubrics/grading scales, checking of marks allocated, annotation of scripts, double and blind marking, internal and external moderation of marks, marking of dissertations or projects including those marked by supervisors external to Trinity;
    • process for provision of standardised feedback to students on continuous assessment;
    • checking the accuracy of marks entered into College systems and of summary statistical data provided to Court of Examiners;
    • ensuring compliance to the Procedure for the tranfer to External Examiners of students' assessed work.

  • Schools are required to provide External Examiners with all information and materials necessary to fulfil their examining duties in a timely manner and in advance of their arrival at College.
  • Schools should provide External Examiners with an induction pack containing relevant information on the programme, examination and assessment arrangements, key dates, School contacts, reporting requirements and payment procedures. The induction pack should also include the Terms and Conditions of Data Processing by External Examiners. Schools should provide clear instructions on the secure storage, handling and disposal of electronic and printed copies of examination scripts and assessment materials, in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
  • Once an External Examiner’s appointment has been approved, the School is responsible for requesting a Trinity computer account on the External Examiner's behalf from the Trinity Human Resources Department. This will enable the External Examiner to access Trinity’s IT systems, including Blackboard. IT Services has developed a webpage to guide External Examiners through the process of accessing their Trinity computer accounts once their details have been processed by Trinity HR.
  • Once a Trinity computer account has been created, the External Examiner is required to set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Accounts for which MFA has not been configured within 30 days of creation will be automatically disabled. Schools should therefore encourage External Examiners to set up MFA as soon as possible to avoid disruption to their access. Step-by-step instructions for setting up MFA are available here.
  • After a computer account has been processed, The School must enrol the External Examiner on the relevant Blackboard modules. Information on how an external examiner can sign into Blackboard can be found here.

Court of Examiners: Requirements

  • Schools are responsible for providing dates for courts of examiners to Academic Registry on an annual basis.
  • External Examiners for taught programmes are required to attend Court of Examiner meetings. However, the mode and frequency of attendance is agreed by the Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning (or their delegate) and the External Examiner. There is no requirement for physical attendance, however it is recommended that the External Examiner physically attend the Court of Examiner meetings once in their three year term and preferably in their first year. Guidance to support a virtual court of examiners can be found here.
  • Schools are required to formally record key quality issues discussed at the court of examiner meetings in order to supplement the External Examiners reports.
  • Schools are encouraged to facilitate opportunities for external examiners to meet with cohorts of students as part of their annual visit.

Managing External Examiner Annual Reports

  • Schools are responsible for ensuring that External Examiners submit their annual reports within two weeks of the publication of examination results. Reports must be submitted using the External Examiner Annual Report Form. Schools must monitor submissions and follow up directly with External Examiners on any outstanding reports.
  • Upon receipt of an External Examiner's Annual Report, Schools are required to review the recommendations and provide a written response indicating which recommendations will be implemented and the rationale for any that will not be accepted. Schools must also inform External Examiners of changes made in response to their recommendations and monitor the implementation of agreed actions through their internal quality assurance processes.
  • Recurring or systemic issues identified in External Examiner reports are escalated to the relevant College Officer by the Quality Office or Graduate Studies Office, as appropriate. The relevant College Officer may request a meeting with the relevant Head of School and/or Director of Teaching and Learning to discuss the issues raised.

Arranging External Examiner Payments

  • Schools are responsible for arranging and processing payments to External Examiners and meeting the associated costs.
  • External examiners submitting their first payment claim must complete the External Examiner Set-Up Form (First Claim) and return it to the designated contact person in the School..
  • External Examiners ordinarily resident in the Republic of Ireland must provide their Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) to facilitate payment.
  • Schools should advise External Examiners ordinarily resident outside the Republic of Ireland to apply for a PPSN to minimise the tax deducted from fees relating to examining duties carried out in Ireland. Guidance on applying for PPSN is available here.
  • Due to the sensitive personal information involved, School staff must not apply for a PPSN on behalf of External Examiners or receive PPSN details directly from the Department of Social Protection.
  • External Examiners who do not obtain a PPSN must provide their date of birth and home address to facilitate payment processing. However, a higher rate of tax will apply to fees for examining duties carried out in Ireland.
  • External Examiners must complete the External Examiner Requisition Payment Form and return it, together with supporting receipts for expenses, to the relevant Course Coordinator, Programme Director or School administrative staff.
  • Tax is deducted at source from the fee component of External Examiner payments, while vouched expenses are paid tax-free. Fees relating to examining duties carried out in Ireland are subject to Irish income tax, whereas duties undertaken remotely outside Ireland are not subject to Irish income tax under Trinity's External Examiner payment arrangements. Further information is available in the Payment Models document.
  • Schools are responsible for checking completed payment forms and forwarding them, together with supporting documentation, to HR Payroll for processing. Forms submitted directly to HR Payroll by External Examiners will not be accepted.
  • Queries on payments should be made to payrollservice@tcd.ie.

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