Taught Master's Schemes: Guidelines for the Sampling of Dissertations

The sampling of dissertations by external examiners may take place on the following basis:

- external examiners must see all dissertations which are:

  (i) within the category of distinction;

  (ii) within +/- 5% of the minimum pass mark;

  (iii) within the failure band

and

  (iv) marked by persons other than members of the University’s academic staff;

- external examiners should retain the right to select other dissertations at random;

- all dissertations must be double marked,

 and

- at least 20% of dissertations, or a minimum of 10 (whichever is the higher figure) must be sampled by external examiners.  Where the total number is less than 10, all dissertations to be externally examined.