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External panel members/external advisors make an important contribution to the university’s validation and periodic programme review processes in terms of:

• Providing relevant subject expertise.
• Making comparisons with similar provision elsewhere within the sector.
• Identifying best practice.

Programme teams should forward their nomination together with the current CV to the Event Officer using the External Panel Member/External Advisor Nomination Form (Internal Programmes) or Collaborative External Panel Member Nomination Form template.

Criteria:

• Nominations should be discussed with the relevant Director of School prior to submission of the nomination form and CV to the Event Officer.
• Nominees must have current academic experience and subject expertise to be able to advise on new modules, the appropriateness of the programme and its comparability nationally. This must be to the FHEQ level of the programme being validated/reviewed.
• Nominees must hold an academic qualification that is at least of the same FHEQ level as the programme being validated/reviewed.
• For nominees who do not have a current academic contract, further detail should be provided to evidence their currency, in order to allow a judgement to be made about their academic credentials.
• For distance-learning programmes, nominees should normally have relevant expertise in the development and delivery of these types of programmes.
• Nominees must be independent of the programme being validated/reviewed.
• Nominations will not be accepted from current or previous external examiners (within the last 5 years).
• Nominations will not be accepted from former employees/students of the university (within the last 5 years).
• There should be no close association between the nominee and the programmes/School/Faculty, or any other factors which may compromise objectivity (for example, placement tutor, research collaborator, relative or close friend).
• A nominee may be appointed as an external panel member/external advisor no more than 2 times in a 5 year period.

Other considerations

It is recognised that in some new and highly specialised areas the number of individuals working in the field is very limited and this can cause difficulties in selecting external panel members. In such cases, a rationale must be provided on the nomination form, in support of the proposal of an individual who does not meet all the specified criteria.

It is expected that, where possible, there will be some variety in the institutions from which the external panel members, for a particular programme, are being drawn over time.

Should a validation/review necessitate the input of a practitioner external panel member, a second, academic, external panel member (whose experience and expertise fully align with the university’s agreed appointment criteria) must also be secured for the panel.

Fees

Within the UK/Eire/local to the external panel member

External panel members will receive a single payment of £200 plus expenses incurred as a result of attendance at the validation/review event (in line with the university’s Fees and Expenses Regulations). This fee is in recognition of their attendance at (normally) a one-day validation/review event (or where scheduled via video conferencing), reading the documentation, advance submission of written comments, and confirmation of the outcomes/event report in accordance with the process agreed