Guidelines in Appointing Examiners for Research Degrees

Steps to appointing examiners

  • Candidate registers for the examination
  • Supervisor identifies examiners and completes the ‘appointment of examiners form’ and submits this to the Research Degrees section
  • The GraduateSchool approves the examiners selection.
  • The Research Degrees section invite the examiners
  • The examiners confirm their acceptance of the invitation
  • The Research Degrees section confirm to the supervisor that the examiners have accepted
  • The supervisor liaises with the examiners and candidate to agree a viva date

Field of Study

Both examiners shall be experts in the field of the thesis but not necessarily in all parts ofthe precise topic. Many theses are interdisciplinary and the aim should be to appoint a team ofexaminers who, between them, cover all aspects of the work to be presented by the candidate. Itmay sometimes be necessary to appoint three examiners to achieve this and in that case the supervisor should nominate three examiners to act jointly.

Appointment of Examiners from Overseas

If the nature of specialism requires selecting an examiner from overseas the supervisor must endeavour to arrange a viva date when the examiner is in the UK on other business. If this is not possible the supervisor must ensure that travel expense arrangements have been agreed before completing the appointment form. Further enquiries should be made to the Research Degrees section.

Relationships to the Supervisor and/or Candidate

The examiners appointed shall have had no direct involvement in the candidate’sresearch, or close connections with either the candidate or supervisor which might inhibit acompletely objective examination. It is accepted that examiners will usually be acquainted withthe supervisor, and sometimes the candidate, and this in itself is not a bar to acting as an

examiner. At least one examiner shall normally have had experience of examining for a researchdegree of the University of London.

Academic staff who have taken an active role in considering a candidate’s transfer ofregistration from MPhil to the PhD degree are ineligible to serve as internal examiners. Staffmembers who may have attended seminars or presentations given by the candidate may benominated as internal examiners provided they have taken no part in the transfer decision.

Internal and Externals

The supervisor is asked to nominate two examiners, of whom

• one must be external to the University of London; and

• one will normally be from a College of the University of London

NB. in the case of a candidate who is also a member of the academic staff of the college no examiner may be appointed who is a member of Goldsmiths.

Supervisors are encouraged to draw their nominated internal examiners from the widerUniversity of London community, but may also nominate an internal examiner from Goldsmiths. In the latter case it is necessary todemonstrate that the internal examiner is genuinelyindependent of the student's course of study.

Former members of the academic staff of the University of London who resigned ratherthan retired are not normally eligible to serve as external examiners until the expiry of threeyears from their departure from the University. Retired teachers, who are still active in theirfields, often retain close links with their former departments and may be appointed as internal

examiners. It is necessary to guard against an individual being appointed as an internalexaminer one week and an external the next, which would imply that there is no distinction between the two.

Supervisors are asked to avoid repeatedly nominating the same person as an examiner,either as an internal or external, or nominating each other to act for the other’s student within ashort time framework.

A visiting professor in a different department orresearch group to the candidate may be nominated as an internal examiner provided there is noconnection between him/her and the candidate.

Completing the Appointment form

Supervisors need to evidence expertise in relation to the thesis. They will also need to list experience of MPhil/PhD examining either in the University of London or elsewhere in the UK. It is accepted that an academic has to examine a PhD thesis for the first time; if such a person isnominated, s/he should be paired with an experienced examiner.

The GraduateSchool would also need to consider any connections with the candidate and/or the supervisor. If applicable, the form should include a statement as to why two examiners external to the university have been put forward. Or, if applicable, a statement indicating the reasons for the nominations of an examiner fromoverseas would need to submitted along with the form.