Some Unis are saying they can do without Externals. Lets just briefly examine this. 1. The QAA is an independent, not for profit organisation, who "check that students working towards a UK qualification get the higher education they are entitled to expect." #ussstrike
2. The QAA have developed the Quality Code, which establishes academic standards, and helps HE providers design their provision.
There are 4 key purposes of the Quality Code, two of which are relevant to the this External Examiner question: "to safeguard the academic standards of UK higher education" and "to assure the quality of the learning opportunities that UK higher education offers to students"
The Code explains: "External examining provides one of the principal means for maintaining UK academic standards within autonomous higher education providers. External examining is therefore an integral and essential part of institutional quality assurance."
The Code also makes clear that as a last resort, externals should report systematic bad practice to the QAA for further investigation. "investigation will be appropriate where there is evidence of systemic failings in quality management in the degree-awarding body"
Any top-level decision by Universities to subvert the external examiner process (for instance by not appointing new externals where current ones have resigned) constitutes a systemic failing.
Thus where any University says that it will not appoint externals or de facto fails to appoint new externals, the @QAAtweets will have to trigger an investigation. Any external or member of a University should report this through the CONCERNS scheme: qaa.ac.uk/concerns
