• Membership
• Terms of Reference
• Reporting Structure
• Secretariat
• Meetings
• Responsibilities of the Chief External Examiner

Membership 2024/25

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) (Chair)	Professor Lorenzo Frigerio
The Co-Chairs of the Quality and Standards Subcommittee (Deputy Chairs)	Professor Andrew Clark Professor William Curtis
The Academic Director (Postgraduate Taught)	Lee Griffin
The Chairs of the Faculty Boards (or their nominee appointed in consultation with the Chair)	Professor Alison Ribeiro de Menezes (Arts) Professor Rob Thornton (Science, Engineering and Medicine) Fiona Wallace (Social Sciences)
The Deputy Chairs of Faculty (or Deputy Chairs of the Faculty Education Committees)	Dr Marta Guerriero (Arts) Professor Georgia Kremmyda (Science, Engineering and Medicine) Dr Karen Simecek (Social Sciences)
The Academic Registrar	Adam Child
The Chief External Examiner	Professor Steve King

The year after a member’s name indicates that their term of office expires on 31 July of that year.

In Attendance

Terms of Reference

1. To consider recommendations for appointment to the role of External Examiner against the criteria laid down for appointments (in relation to this extant term, the Chief External Examiner and Faculty Education Committee Chairs will not attend for these considerations).

2. To consider recommendations by Heads of Department for the appointment of members of Boards of Examiners for all taught courses.

3. To discharge responsibility on behalf of the Senate for consideration and approval of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Decision Record Logs, setting out awards to be made in the name of the University.

4. To uphold, reject or moderate the recommendations of the departmental Examination Boards to maximise the consistency of approach across academic departments.

5. To follow up on issues of concern to identify and address any systemic problems.

6. To receive reports on specific actions taken by the Special Cases Committee.

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Reporting Structure

The Senate Sub-Group has delegated authority from the Senate.

Click here to see a diagrammatic representation of the Committee Structure.

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Secretariat

Secretary: Dr Lynne Bayley, Senior Policy Advisor (Assessment)

Assistant Secretary: Helen Hotten, Policy Advisor (Assessment and Regulations)

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Meetings

The Senate Sub-Group meets on at least three occasions over the summer period in order to:

• Consider recommendations and ensure that the outcomes for all first year students are released at the same time in a consistent and systematic manner
• Consider and approve pass lists to enable the conferment of final year undergraduate awards
• Confirm the progression of postgraduate taught students to the dissertation phase or confer final awards.

A schedule of key dates relating to Student Administrative Services processes including dates of Senate Sub-Group meetings is available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/actcal/keydatesinfo/ 

Responsibilities of the Chief External Examiner

The responsibilities of the Chief External Examiner are as follows:

• Attend meetings of the Senate Sub-Group with delegated authority from the Senate at which decisions on the approval of pass lists/DRLs for UG and PGT courses in relation to awards are made and ensure that those recommendations have been reached by means consistent with the University’s requirements and, if required, with the exceptional practice that the University has undertaken to address a force majeure (Reg. 41);
• Provide advice and act as sounding board on the appropriateness of the University's approach to addressing the particular challenges presented as a result of force majeure circumstances, if required;
• Ensure that the responsibilities of the SSG relating to oversight of students’ eligibility for an award are fully and properly discharged in accordance with the assessment conventions;
• Receive the SSG data regarding courses and cohorts and participate in discussions at the SSG regarding course performance. These observations should be included in a Chief External Examiner report;
• Report to the University on the effectiveness of the approach to assessment and the conduct of the SSG and any matters arising in accordance with the University’s requirements for such reports.