left to my own devices – occasional thoughts on higher education

On 13 Nov. 2025 I was one member of a panel convened by QAA to talk, as part of its Forum for Thought series, about Reimagining External Examining. This post is something I wrote to help me clarify my own thoughts on this, prior to participating in this panel.

The recent White Paper on Post-16 Education and Skills included much that was expected, as well as developments that were less so. One of the latter was what amounts to firing a starting gun for a review of the external examining system in English higher education.

This is the relevant extract from the White Paper:

assessing the merits of the sector continuing to use the external examining system for ensuring rigorous standards in assessments. We will consider the extent to which recent patterns of improving grades can be explained by an erosion of standards, rather than improved teaching or assessment practices. We will also continue to build the evidence base on the effectiveness or otherwise of the external examining system, which we will feed into the Office for Students’ programme for reform. We will also seek employers’ views about whether the academic system is giving graduates the skills and knowledge they need for the workplace.

HM Government, Post-16 Education and Skills (2025), p.67

where and how it started

External examining is one of, if not the, earliest forms of external quality assurance in English higher education.

In the early nineteenth century England belatedly decided to catch up with its neighbour Scotland by having more than only two universities. As it did so, one of these new universities (Durham) chose to supplement the use of its own staff as examiners with externally appointed examiners from Oxford so that:

by their assistance the same standard of attainments has been fixed for a certificate which is observed on the like occasion in [Oxford]

Durham University Calendar 1842 quoted in Matthew Andrews, Universities in the Age of Reform, 1800-70: Durham, London and King’s College (2018), p.152

And from this acorn grew the national external examiner system we know today.

where we are now

The implication of the quote above from the White paper appears to be that the now venerable external examiner system is no longer a helpful or necessary element of our external quality assurance. That with age, has come obsolescence.

I’m going to set out some reasons why I disagree.  This early manifestation of external quality assurance has current and ongoing validity, and while we might want to build on, or even reimagine elements of, the external examiner system it still plays a crucial role underpinning the academic quality and standards of UK higher education.

context

It’s probably as well to be open about the perspective from which I’m making these comments.

I’ve been the professional services lead responsible for the external examiner system at three different universities. For many years this included reading all the external examiner reports submitted to these universities, so it’s no exaggeration to say I’ve read thousands of such reports.

I’ve also completed the AdvanceHE Professional Development Course for external examiners; been accredited by AdvanceHE to deliver this course, and have done so for a number of years; and I’m currently an award external examiner at one university.

So depending on the perspective taken, I’m either a biased observer as someone heavily implicated in the current external examiner system; or a practitioner whose views of, and comments on, the external examiner system are grounded in knowledge and practice.

I think there are three key benefits to the sector from the UK’s external examining system.  But in setting these out, it’s crucial to note that external examining is part of a much broader set of systems and processes that assure the quality and standards of the assessment of higher education awards.  In my view a crucial part, but a part.

ongoing value

The first and most obvious benefit is the external verification of academic standards, with external examiners scrutinising examples of student assessed work to determine whether student achievement as measured through their assessed work and its marking meets nationally set standards and disciplinary expectations.

Every programme team/department has multiple valid processes and approaches to this end, but ultimately these are entirely internal and subject to the potential to vary from, and potentially fall below, national academic standards. The external examiner plays a critical role in verifying that the assessment and marking of work meets national standards; and taking a view on whether overall the standard of work meets national expectations for the award in question.

Secondly and distinctly, as members of boards of examiners external examiners help ensure that the way that the awarding and classification process take place is done fairly and equitably.  Again we have internal processes to help ensure this, but external examiners are able to take a more detached view.  And this remains essential.

Talking with colleagues who serve as external examiners, there remain instances where they need to step in to provide constructive challenge where dangers such as groupthink are at risk of setting in among the internal examiners. This outside view is critical in helping ensure, and assuring, that students are treated fairly and equitably.

And the final continuing benefit of external examining is the way that it supports the development and enhancement of educational provision.  This is commonly recognised in the sector, with the regular and structured engagement between a programme team/department and their external examiner offering the opportunity for new and valuable perspectives and practices to flow in both directions.

I’ve also in recent years seen an additional aspect of this, through the AdvanceHE Professional Development Course.  I’ve seen how for countless colleagues who have undertaken this course, their development has been as much about their own assessment thinking and practice (with consequential impact on practice at programme/subject/department level) as it has been about equipping them to undertake the external examiner role.

So clearly, I don’t agree with the (scarcely) veiled criticism of external examining contained in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper.  External examining may have venerable origins, but it continues to deliver value and provides a foundation from which we can build, or reimagine, to further that value.

Which brings me to two points I wanted to make about the current critique of, and moves against, the external examining system, both of which links to why this issue has come up at this point.

why? degree classification

A key element of the critique of the external examiner system seems to be the claims of grade inflation: arguing that this exists; is a problem; and that external examining has therefore failed, and is not fit for purpose.

I think this is spurious.

This critique of external examiners focuses on the importance of the classification of awards (and only undergraduate ones at that), and overlooks the importance of the verification of marks and through this the confirmation of awards.

Essentially the board of examiner process has three stages: verifying marks; confirming that the requirements to make an award have been met; and where those requirements have been, classifying the award.

Preserving academic standards is not just a matter of looking at the proportions of ‘good degrees’ awarded, despite the impression given by our media and the English regulator.  As important is the assurance of the standards of achievement and marks awarded at the module and assessment item level.  This is where standards are made real, and these marks for specific assessment items are the critical building block for assuring academic standards and awarding qualifications.

While not perfect, the external verification of marks by external examiners plays a crucial role in upholding academic standards by assuring the marking of internal examiners.  And by playing this role in verifying marks, external examiners also provide assurance that when universities make awards they can have increased confidence that the sector wide requirements for any given award are being met.

The extent to which external examiners can affect classification is limited. Once marks are confirmed the bulk of the classification process is determined by institutionally-set classification algorithms over which external examiners have little influence.  But the more limited impact of external examiners at this point (and the impact is not nothing, as external examiners usually have added weight when the use of discretion in classification is being considered), does not negate the crucial role and impact they have in verification and awarding.

why? other motivations

The second point relates more to the wider sector political context.

In the early years of this decade, senior figures at OfS were inciting the sector to jettison the external examiner system.  The sector turned its face against such temptation.  From the White Paper it’s tempting to think that having been spurned in this way, OfS has been whispering in the government’s ear and has found a malleable civil servant and/or minister to support their intent to end external examining.

If that’s the case, why does OfS have it in for external examining?

One possibility is that it believes there has been grade inflation (a less cut and dried case than OfS believe), and genuinely thinks that this shows that external examining is an ineffective system.

There may, though, be an additional element to this.

Last week’s report from OfS on degree classification algorithms is, as others have said, in effect re-writing and expanding the current Ongoing Regulation Condition B4; a land grab by the regulator to allow it to more directly and forcibly regulate academic standards in all universities, strengthening itself at the expense of a key aspect of institutional autonomy.

In that context it’s very tempting to see the current attack on external examining as an effort by OfS to remove a rival locus of authority on academic standards (external examining), to free up space to increase the chances of success of its attempt to expand its regulatory reach even further into issues of academic standards.  Which doesn’t seem inconsistent with other previous developments to remove rival centres of authority in the English sector (e.g. QAA).

full circle

I’ve ended up both some distance from where I started, sector politics; and at the same time have returned to where I started, the White Paper’s stated intention to review external examining. What I hope threads through this post, though, is my belief in the current and continuing utility of external examining as part of the UK’s approach to the external assurance of academic quality and standards.

External examining is foundational to assuring standards and quality in UK higher education (as with careers in pop music, sometimes the early stuff remains among the best stuff); foundations need to be built on and bolstered, not removed.