TEI Board of Examiners: Membership & Attendance

Membership 

All TEI Boards of Examiners are responsible to, and ultimately appointed by, the Senate of the University. TEI Management Committees are required to recommend, on an annual basis, the membership of their Board of Examiners for consideration by the Common Awards Management Board. The Management Board will make recommendations for appointments to the University Senate via the Quality and Standards Committee. 

Recommendations for membership of TEI Boards of Examiners should be approved by the TEI's Management Committee and submitted to the Common Awards Team in October using our standard template. See our Templates and Forms page to download this and our Common Awards Calendar for this year’s deadline. 

See our page on Structure and Governance for more information on the Common Awards Management Board, the Quality and Standards Committee, and Senate.  

There shall be a Board of Examiners for each TEI which shall be constituted as follows: 

1. Chair (a member of academic staff based within the TEI, and shall not normally be the programme director(s) for the programme(s) under consideration by the board);  
2. Internal Examiners (normally those core and associate staff involved in the delivery of the programmes); 
3. External Examiner(s) for the programme(s) under consideration by the board; 
4. University Liaison Officer(s) allocated to the TEI; 
5. the Secretary (a member of academic staff or a member of professional services staff based within the TEI). 

Chair of the TEI Board of Examiners: is responsible for the general conduct of the board, and more specifically for: 

• convening meetings of the TEI Board of Examiners as may be required in connection with the general arrangements to be made for the examination of students or for the assessment of results; 
• ensuring that all meetings of Boards of Examiners are carried out with the students under consideration remaining anonymous; 
• ensuring that relevant information is sent to External Examiners; 
• agreeing with External Examiners the principles for the selection of scripts to be sent to him/her; 
• nominating one member of the Board (fully briefed) to be the TEI’s representative for the University’s Overarching Board of Examiners (who shall normally available for consultation by phone); 
• ensuring that the University is provided with a timely and complete report on each meeting of the Board of Examiners. 

Internal Examiners: The number of internal examiner members of TEI Boards of Examiners should be a representative sample of those core and experienced staff (such as programme leaders and module leaders) who are involved in the delivery of the Common Awards programmes. 

External Examiner: is responsible for assuring the standards of the individual Common Awards programmes in terms of the learning outcomes of the students in the light of the objectives of the programme(s) concerned and in comparison with programmes in the same subject area elsewhere in the UK; 

University Liaison Officer: inter alia, is responsible for assuring comparability of the standards of the students' learning outcomes with those of similar students at Durham University. 

Secretary to the TEI Board of Examiners: is responsible for supporting the Chair, and more specifically for: 

• ensuring that all members of the Board of Examiners are made aware of key dates in relation to meetings (e.g. deadlines for the return of marks); 
• liaising with the External Examiner and University Liaison Officer, and communicating with members more generally; 
• drafting the minutes of the Board of Examiners meeting for consideration for approval by the Chair of the Board of Examiners, and submitting these to the University in the correct format, and within the required time limit. 

Attendance

Internal Examiners: are expected to attend all meetings of the Board. If an internal examiner is unable to attend a meeting of the Board of Examiners for good reason (e.g. research leave, illness, or bereavement) this must be made known to, and accepted by, the Chair of the Board of Examiners in advance of the meeting. A brief note of the reasons for any absence must be minuted. If the Chair is in any doubt about the acceptability of any reasons for absence, he/she may consult with the University. 

External Examiners: are required to be present at meetings held to confirm the marks of undergraduates, graduate and postgraduate students (but are not required to attend smaller Boards held to confirm resit marks only).  

If an External Examiner is unable to attend a meeting of the Board of Examiners at which his/her presence is required:  

• the reason for the absence must be documented and reported to the Chair of the Management Board;  
• there must be clear evidence for the views of the External Examiner on the marks awarded;  
• the External Examiner should be available for consultation during or after the meeting;  
• the External Examiner should receive a copy of the minutes of the meeting and related documentation.  

University Liaison Officers: ULOs attend a minimum of one meeting of the TEI’s Board of Examiners every other year; ULOs may, however, choose to attend more meetings of TEI Boards of Examiners if they wish. 

The University representative in attendance is likely to be the University Liaison Officer. However, if the ULO is unable to attend a meeting, another appropriate member of staff may attend; in such cases, it is most likely that the person attending will be a member of the Common Awards Team or the broader Curriculum, Learning and Assessment Service of which the Common Awards Team is a part. ULOs will, however, remain as full members of the TEI Boards of Examiners, regardless of whether they attend specific meetings. 

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