External examining

External examining is an integral and essential part of institutional quality assurance, maintaining academic standards within a university and providing an independent view of the assessment process.

External examiners are selected from higher education, industry and the professions for their qualifications and subject expertise.

We appoint an external examiner to oversee a group of cognate modules known as an External Examiner Module Group (EEMG) to advise on academic standards and parity with similar provision at other UK universities.

Examiners provide written reports of their findings, which are circulated to module teams and appropriate University Boards and Committees for response.

Student involvement

We ensure that students have the opportunity to engage with external examiner reports and responses to them in two ways:

1. Reports and responses are considered by Teaching Committees, which include a student member. These committees oversee the quality and standards of modules and qualifications in a subject area.
2. Summaries of reports and actions are then passed for consideration by the University-level Qualifications and Assessment Committee, which has two student members.

The Open University’s Student Association (OUSA) is responsible for appointing student representatives on the University’s committees. Any registered OU student can apply to OUSA to be considered for appointment.