3.1 A Programme Board of Examiners shall be responsible for ensuring that the examination and assessment procedures for the award(s) for which it is responsible are carried out in accordance with the regulations governing the programme(s) and award(s) concerned and other relevant College regulations and in a fair and impartial manner. To this end, a Programme Board of Examiners shall:
i) nominate Internal and Visiting Examiners for approval by the relevant School Board of Examiners, or, where relevant, the College Board of Examiners;2
ii) recommend to the relevant School Board of Examiners a marking scheme and, where appropriate, a scheme for the award of honours for the award(s) for which it is responsible;
iii) determine the final recommendations on examinations/assessments for awards for which it is responsible on:
a) the results of individual examinations/assessments;
b) the pass lists;
1 The terms of reference for the Research Degrees Examination Board and the Special Examinations Arrangements Committee
c) the classification (where appropriate) for each candidate who is recommended for an award;
d) and make such recommendations to the relevant School Board of Examiners;
iv) consider cases for reassessment according to the policy determined by the relevant School Board of Examiners;
v) consider cases made on grounds of illness or other extenuating circumstance affecting a candidate’s examination, including recommendations for aegrotat degrees, deferral of examination/assessment, postponement of consideration of honours and to make recommendations on such cases to the relevant School Board of Examiners;
vi) advise the relevant School Board and/or body responsible for progression within the School on matters concerning the progression of candidates within its purview;
vii) be responsible for the setting, scrutiny and approval of examination papers and other assessments for which it is responsible as required by the relevant regulations;
viii) keep a record of the proceedings of each formal meeting of the Board of Examiners, including recording the attendance of Visiting Examiners, and of decisions reached, including those concerning individual candidates and those concerning examination policy and procedures, for report to the relevant College Board of Examiners;
ix) deal with matters raised in Visiting Examiners’ reports and to report to the relevant School Board of Examiners on action taken;
x) report to the relevant School Board on issues concerning procedural and regulatory matters (for example, appeals against decisions of Boards of Examiners, examination irregularities/offences) and action taken in such cases;
xi) consider requests for suspension of regulations, as appropriate3; xii) meet as often as is necessary to fulfil the requirements given above.
3.2 School Boards
A School Board of Examiners shall be responsible for ensuring that examination and assessment procedures within the School are carried out in accordance with College regulations and those governing the programmes registered within the School, whether at undergraduate or taught postgraduate levels, and in a fair and impartial manner. To this end, a School Board of Examiners shall:
i) be responsible for ensuring that a Programme Board of Examiners is established for each programme of studies registered within the School which leads to an award and that the Internal and Visiting Examiners nominated to serve on each Programme Board of Examiners for which the School is responsible are recommended annually to the College Board of Examiners4;
ii) recommend to the College Board of Examiners nominations for Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of the Programme Boards of Examiners for which it is responsible;
iii) approve marking schemes and schemes for the award of honours;
iv) approve the recommendations of the Programme Boards of Examiners for which it is responsible for results and awards, including those for Honours;
v) consider, on the recommendation of the Programme Boards of Examiners, individual candidate’s circumstances as they affect her/his examination, especially where these concern the final recommendation for an award;
vi) consider recommendations for aegrotat applications from Programme Boards of Examiners;
vii) consider recommendations for the postponement of consideration of honours from Programme Boards of Examiners;
viii) receive the minutes of the meetings of the Programme Boards of Examiners for which it is responsible at which final awards are recommended;
ix) consider the responses made by the Programme Boards of Examiners for which it is responsible to Visiting Examiners’ reports;
x) receive reports from the Programme Boards of Examiners for which it is responsible
xi) endorse applications for suspensions of regulations from Programme Boards of Examiners for which it is responsible;
xii) report, at least annually, to the College Board of Examiners on any relevant matters and provide an annual report for the College Board and for the School on action taken to address points raised in reports of Visiting Examiners and on those concerning examination policy and procedures.
3.3 Executive Committee of a Board of Examiners
3.3.1 A Programme or a School Board of Examiners may establish an Executive Committee to consider urgent, unscheduled business, including but not limited to requests from candidates for a review of a Board of Examiners’ decision and late results.
3.3.2 A School Board of Examiners without a Programme Board substructure may establish an Executive Committee to consider the results of any resit or replacement examinations scheduled to be held outside of the summer examination period.
3.3.3 The membership of an Executive Committee of a Programme/Part Board of Examiners or for a School Board in a School which does not make provision for separate Programme Boards, shall comprise:
i) the current Chair or Deputy Chair of the Board, and ii) three other current Examiners on the relevant Board.
A current Visiting Examiner appointed to the Board in question should be notified in advance by the Chair that the Executive Committee is due to meet and should be consulted on the matters to be discussed. The views of the Visiting Examiners should be noted by the Committee and recorded in the Minutes.
3.3.4 The membership of an Executive Committee for all other School Boards of Examiners shall comprise:
i) the current Chair or Deputy Chair of the Board, and ii) three other current Examiners of the relevant Board.
3.4 The College Board of Examiners will have specific responsibility for advising the College Teaching Committee on the conduct of the College’s assessment processes and shall have the following responsibilities:
i) to ensure that the procedures for the examination and assessment of programmes of study within the College are conducted in accordance with College regulations and in a manner which are fair, impartial and consistent;
ii) to advise the College Teaching Committee on matters concerning College examination policy and procedures;
iii) to advise the College Teaching Committee on matters concerning quality assurance procedures and on the monitoring of standards as they apply to examination and assessment processes;
iv) to approve the appointment of all Internal and Visiting Examiners and of the Chairs and Deputy Chairs of Boards of Examiners;
v) to receive notice of marking schemes approved by School Boards of Examiners and to have regard to their consistent operation across the College;
vi) to receive notice of awards recommended within each School and to approve results and awards directly recommend to the College Board and monitor those awards in respect of the equality strands;
vii) to receive notice of proposed amendments to examination/assessment regulations and to advise the College Teaching Committee on such proposals;
viii) to receive the Minutes of School Boards of Examiners and a summary report from the Chair of each School Board on responses made to Visiting Examiners’ reports within the School; and to provide a consolidated report to the College Teaching Committee on matters raised which are of significance and how they have been addressed;
ix) to report to the College Teaching Committee and at least annually, to the Academic Board
x) to liaise with the College Teaching Committee on matters of mutual interest.
3.5 General
3.5.1 The School Boards of Examiners, acting on the recommendations of their constituent Boards of Examiners, and the Research Degree Examination Board are the sole bodies having authority to recommend to the Academic Board the conferment of the awards for which they are responsible.
3.5.2 Except under the provisions Regulation 14 of the General regulations for examinations and Regulation 12.3.12 of the Academic regulations for research degrees, no decision of a properly convened and constituted Board of Examiners acting within its terms of reference and within the regulations governing the degree may be modified.
4 Meetings of Examiners
4.1 The Chair of a Board of Examiners shall be responsible for all arrangements relating to the meetings of examiners.
4.2 Reasonable notice of the meetings of examiners shall be given.
4.3 Subject only to the provisions of Regulations 4.5, 5.2 and 7.3.16 below, the quorum for any meeting of a Board of Examiners held to determine the final recommendations on examinations/assessment, as specified in Regulation 3.1 iii) above, shall be:
i) the Chair or Deputy Chair;
ii) the External Examiner(s);
iii) the Intercollegiate Examiner(s) (if appointed; see Regulation 5.2 below);
iv) one half of the internal membership of the Board eligible to vote.
4.4 At all other meetings of a Board of Examiners, the quorum shall be:
i) the Chair or Deputy Chair;
ii) one-third of the total voting membership (which includes External and Intercollegiate Examiners for Boards of Examiners but is not applicable to the College Board and the School Boards with the exception of the cases referred to in Regulation 2.4 above).
4.5 The quorum for an Executive Committee of a Board of Examiners shall be three, to include the current Chair/Deputy Chair. The current Chair/Deputy Chair shall have an additional casting vote, where necessary.
4.6 In the case of first degrees in Medicine and Dentistry, Visiting Examiners appointed solely for the purpose of conducting clinical examinations shall not be required to attend meetings of the Board of Examiners.
4.7 Decisions of the College Board of Examiners, and of School Boards of Examiners and Programme Boards of Examiners shall be arrived at by a majority vote of Examiners present and eligible to vote. The Chair shall have an additional casting vote.
4.8 With the exception of Inspectors appointed under Act of Parliament for examinations leading to registrable qualifications, no persons other than the members and designated administrative staff shall be permitted to attend meetings of any Board of Examiners, except that Assessors or Assistant Examiners may be invited to attend for discussion as required by the Chair.
4.9 The Chair shall ensure that a proper record is kept of the proceedings and decisions of the Board of Examiners; that the confidentiality of such proceedings and decisions and the record of them is preserved; and that a copy of the confidential record is passed to the Academic Registrar.
5 Appointment of Boards of Examiners
5.1 Boards of Examiners are appointed annually to act for examinations to be held in the year beginning 1 September (or 1 January for Masters degrees organised on a calendar year basis). They shall act in accordance with these regulations and any special provision additionally included in individual programme regulations.
5.2 The number of examiners, including External and Intercollegiate Examiners, appointed to each Board shall be the minimum possible to ensure the efficient conduct of the relevant examinations and to allow for independent assurance of an adequate standard of assessment.
Each Board should normally include at least one External Examiner. For University of London Awards conferred by the College, an Intercollegiate Examiner should be appointed to each Board, but in such cases, if it is not practicable or appropriate to appoint an
Intercollegiate Examiner to a Board, a reasoned case for a waiver of this requirement must be made by the Chair, on behalf of the relevant Board, to the Chair of the College Board.
5.3 Examiners are nominated according to the procedures described in Regulation 2.2 above.
5.4 The Academic Registrar shall keep a record of the membership of all Boards of Examiners.
6 Internal Examiners
6.1 Internal Examiners shall be members of the academic staff (Professors, Readers or Lecturers) of the College.
6.2 Where the Academic Board has approved a collaborative provision arrangement for a particular programme of study, an Internal Examiner may be appointed to the Programme Board of Examiners from among the academic staff of the collaborating institution(s).
In all such cases, prior approval must be sought from the Chair of the College Board of Examiners.
6.3 Internal Examiners shall serve as ex-officio members of the relevant Programme Board of Examiners to which they are appointed.
6.4 The duties of Internal Examiners will be determined by the Chair of the relevant
Programme Board of Examiners, and may include setting and marking examinations and other forms of assessment and attending oral and practical examinations for the purpose of assessing individual candidates.
7 External Examiners 7.1 Eligibility & selection
7.1.1 In the selection of a nominee for appointment as an External Examiner, the following criteria shall apply:
i) an appointee shall be external to the University of London;
ii) an appointee must be of sufficient authority in the discipline being examined and should be familiar with the standards and procedures of university-level education in the United Kingdom. An appointee shall not normally be from an overseas institution. School Boards must seek permission from the College Board of Examiners to appoint an examiner from overseas;
iii) former lay members of Council, students or employees of King’s College London shall not be appointed before a period of three academic years has elapsed;
iv) any individual who has been involved in the validation or approval of a programme as an external expert or similar will be excluded from acting as an External Examiner for that programme before a period of three academic years has elapsed;
v) an appointee shall not normally belong to an institution in which a member of staff of King’s College London is appointed to act as an External Examiner in the same subject. It is recognised that, in certain subjects, this situation might be unavoidable.
In such instances a case must be referred to the College Board of Examiners by the Chair of the relevant Programme Board of Examiners.
7.2 Appointment
7.2.1 Except as provided for below, an External Examiner is normally appointed for a period of four years with no option for an extension. On completion of the appointment, an External Examiner will not normally be eligible for re-appointment until a further two years have elapsed.
7.2.2 External Examiners appointed to Part Boards of Examiners for the MB BS programme will normally be appointed for a period of five years with no option for an extension. On completion of the appointment, an External Examiner will not normally be eligible for re-appointment until a further three years have elapsed.
7.2.3 Where a nomination is approved, the appointee shall be informed within one month of the date of the approval. Normally, the appointment will commence upon the expiry of the appointment of the previous External Examiner and will coincide with the start of the academic year.
7.2.4 If an External Examiner is no longer eligible to hold office under 7.1 above or is unable or unwilling to fulfil the duties under 7.3 below, the Chair of the Programme Board of Examiners shall recommend the termination of the appointment to the Chair of the College Board of Examiners.
7.2.5 If either party has cause to terminate the appointment, this should normally be arranged to take effect at the end of an academic year, but in any case is subject to three month’s notice by either party.
7.2.6 A Board of Examiners may request an extension of an External Examiner’s appointment beyond four years in order to meet local requirements. Such a request must be approved by the Chair of the relevant Board of Examiners and submitted through the School for approval by the College Board of Examiners.
7.3 Duties
7.3.1 External Examiners shall assist in the maintenance of the standard of awards of King’s College London and advise if there is a falling below national standards in the subject area for which the External Examiner is responsible.
7.3.2 External Examiners shall seek to ensure, as far as is practicable, that the examination system is fair and operated equitably.
7.3.3 External Examiners shall have regard to the totality of the degree or other programme in question and shall be involved in and particularly influential in the decisions relating to the award of each degree or other qualification.
7.3.4 External Examiners are required to comment upon and give approval to all draft examination papers for which they are responsible and to advise upon other modes of assessment appropriate to the discipline.
7.3.5 External Examiners have the right to inspect any script or other assessed examination material relevant to the duties of the appointment and may be required to sample scripts or other assessed material, including coursework.
7.3.6 External Examiners are required to advise whether marking schemes and schemes for the classification of honours or award of degree diplomas are consistent with the national standards, and whether marking and assessment is consistent with all analogous standards.
7.3.7 External Examiners shall adjudicate in cases of conflict between examiners.
7.3.8 External Examiners are ex officio members of Programme Boards of Examiners and are required to attend meetings of Programme Boards of Examiners held to determine the results of examinations, and may be requested to attend other meetings as notified by the Chair of the respective Board. External Examiners may attend meetings of the relevant School Boards of Examiners and of the College Board of Examiners (see Regulations 2.4 and 2.8 above).
7.3.9 External Examiners shall approve the pass list and, in the case of relevant postgraduate qualifications, advise on the award of marks of ‘distinction’, ‘merit’ or similar.
7.3.10 External Examiners are required to submit to the Principal at the conclusion of each examination a written report on the form provided. The report shall be submitted within one calendar month of the meeting held to determine the results of candidates in the relevant academic year. The report shall include comment on the adequacy of the standard of the examination and other matters relevant to the teaching and assessment of the programme or courses. The contents of the report will be brought to the attention of those teaching the programme or course, the Chair of the relevant Board of Examiners, the Chair of the relevant School Board of Examiners and the Academic Registrar. The College Board of Examiners will consider an annual report on action taken further to issues raised in External Examiners’ reports (see Regulations 3.2 xii) and 3.4. viii) above).
7.3.11 Failure to submit a report within six months of the meeting held to determine the results of candidates will result in a recommendation that the External Examiners’ appointment is terminated (see 7.2.4 and 7.2.5 above).
7.3.12 Other duties of External Examiners shall be determined by the Chair of the relevant Programme Board of Examiners, in consultation with the External Examiner.
7.3.13 External Examiners may be invited to attend any meeting convened to consider an appeal
7.3.13 External Examiners may be invited to attend any meeting convened to consider an appeal