Arrangements for responding to the External Examiners reports for the MVST

The Head of Department is responsible for the quality of teaching by members of his or her department, whilst the Faculty Board is responsible for teaching quality within the Faculty and, in the case of MVST IA and IB, this is monitored on their behalf by the MVST I Committee.
It is the Faculty Board’s expectation that all External Examiners will receive a formal response to their report from the Head of the “host” Department, for issues relating specifically to the course, or the content or conduct of the examination. For MVST (including 2nd MB and 2nd Vet MB), courses are “hosted” as follows:
 

HOM, FAB, HNA, NHB/NAB, HR and VRB – PDN
MIMS – Biochemistry
SECHI and ISBM – Director of Education (MVST) in the absence of a host department
PfP – Course Organiser
Pam and PfVP – Veterinary Medicine
MODA – Pharmacology BOD – Pathology
 

Heads of Department are expected to seek the comments of the relevant Course Management Committee and/or Course Organiser before responding. Copies of all responses should be sent to the Faculty Office and the Education Section for audit purposes.
 

Any comments made by an External Examiner which cannot be addressed within the Departmental response (perhaps because they question Faculty policy, or pertain to the medical or veterinary course as a whole), should be referred to the MVST I Committee for discussion and/or a response by the DOE; and the Head of Department should advise the External Examiner accordingly. If the MVST I Committee deems it appropriate, specific comments on Second MB or Second Vet MB examinations will be referred to the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine or Veterinary Medicine.
 

The Faculty Board requires a full report for the main sitting of all exams, but if the External Examiner also acts for the resit, they should simply be asked to confirm that the resit examination was satisfactory. It would be open to an External Examiner to write a full report if they have concerns about any aspect of the examination. An External Examiner newly appointed for the resit is required to produce a full report.
All Examiners’ reports and responses will also be considered by the MVSTI Committee on behalf of the Faculty Board, and any substantive issues referred to the Board.