External Examiner needed for Integrated Foundation Year

The University of Northampton is looking for External Examiners for the Integrated Foundation Year (IFY), a cross-faculty Level 3 programme supporting progression into undergraduate degrees across the Faculty of Health, Sport and Behavioural Sciences (as well as Business and Law, Education, Arts, Science and Technology).

The redesigned Integrated Foundation Year consists of a three-module framework:

  • FDN030 Professional and Academic Skills for University Study
  • FDN031 Applied Learning Project
  • FDN032–FDN042 Foundations modules aligned to eleven cognate groups (Psychology; Health; Sport; Business and Management; Law, Criminology and Criminal Justice; Design and Creative Arts; Engineering; Education and Society; Science; Culture and the Creative Industries; Technology)

Due to the cross-faculty structure of the Integrated Foundation Year, separate External Examiners will be appointed for each faculty grouping / cognate area, normally covering provision within one of the following areas:

  • Business and Law
  • Education, Arts, Science and Technology
  • Health, Sport and Behavioural Sciences

Each External Examiner will oversee standards, assessment, and student achievement for the Level 3 Foundations modules within their faculty area, together with the shared Foundation Year modules contributing to progression to Level 4 study.

The Integrated Foundation Year itself is not PSRB regulated; however, some progression routes lead to professionally regulated undergraduate programmes, and External Examiners should therefore have experience of programmes that prepare students for discipline-specific degree study.

We are looking for someone:

  • who is suitably qualified with expertise in Foundation Year / Level 3 / first-year undergraduate provision
  • previous experience as an External Examiner is strongly preferred, but not essential.

The appointment will be for the four academic years 2026 to 2030, from 1 October 2026.

The University of Northampton will not appoint an External Examiner from any of our approved partnerships. This information will be checked upon application.
Closing date: Friday 15th May 2026

How to apply

If you are interested in applying for this role (or to request further information), please send a recent CV to externalexaminers@northampton.ac.uk
If you are unsuccessful in your application, we will destroy your application and CV after 1 month of the advert closing.

If you are successful, your application and CV will be retained securely for 5 years, one year after the end of the 4-year contract.

The University of Northampton is committed to creating a learning experience that celebrates equality and harnesses the power of diversity as exemplified by the rich social and ethnic backgrounds of our student body. We encourage applications from colleagues from diverse backgrounds to ensure that external scrutiny continues to challenge and inspire us.

Opening date:

12 March 2026

Closing date:

15 May 2026

Salary range



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