External examiners
The Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education has decided that the nationwide Corps of external examiners for Engineering Programmes should be divided into two censor corps. Previously, there has been a unified corps for external examiners who have been appointed for civil engineering (BSc and MSc) and (part-time) master's programmes and external examiners who have been appointed for diploma engineering (BEng) and (part-time) diploma programmes.
The Agency's decision to divide the corps is based on the fact that the different programmes' use of external examiners is regulated in two different examination orders, namely the examination order for the university°programmes (civil engineer and part-time master) and the examination order for vocational higher education (diploma engineer and part-time diploma). The two examination orders have e.g. different requirements for the examiner's qualifications, cf. section 57 of the Executive Order on Examinations for University Degrees and section 25 of the Executive Order on Examinations for Diploma in Engineering and Part-Time Diploma Programs. The biggest difference is that according to section 57, an external examiner must have a research-based education at master's level in order to be able to be an external examiner for bachelor's, master's and part-time master's programmes.
As a result of the Agency's decision, the nationwide Corps of external examiners for Engineering Programmes will in future be divided into the following two censor corps:
- Bachelor of Engineering Censor Corps (also includes part-time diploma programmes in the field of IT and engineering)
- Civil Engineering Censor Corps (also includes part-time master's programmes in the field)
There is no technical split of the Corps in the current IT system Censornet.dk. It is therefore still very important that you ensure that the examiners used for BSc, MSc, and part-time master's programs have a research-based education at a minimum master's level. Information about an external examiner's education level can be found in Censornet. A working group has been set up across the universities, which is in the process of investigating the possibilities in relation to the future-oriented IT support of the two corps. It appears as one of the requirements for a new system that it is technically possible to divide the existing corps into two corps.
An overview of appointed censors is available at https://www.info.censornet.dk/english The password is your DTU Inside login.
Only external examiners may be used who are appointed in the corps of external examiners, and who can thus be found in the database on CensorNet.dk. Otherwise, there is a risk that the exam will have to be cancelled and completed again, eg. an oral defense of a final project.
The corps of external examiners is divided into seven directions for administrative reasons: Building, Design, Export, Electrical (electronics, IT and energy), Chemistry, Machine and Basic subjects (mathematics, physics and social sciences). An overview of the seven directions and which censor secretariat (DTU or AAU) serving which direction is provided by CensorNet.
The departments must be aware that if the external examiner does not have a degree at master’s (candidatus) level, the person concerned cannot act as the examiner of the undergraduate, master's and master's programs, cf. above. At CensorNet you can see for each examiner whether the person in question has an education degree at B Eng / bachelor level or at graduate level or higher.
An examiner may be used by all departments, regardless of the direction in which they are registered, provided that the examiner has sufficient professional qualifications and is not disqualified, cf. the general guidelines for requirements for eligibility for external examiners (located on CensorNet).
Registration of which examiner is used for a course or project with external examiner must be done on CensorNet well in advance of the exam. It is not possible to re-register an examiner for an exam if a grade/assessment is registered on the course / project. In these cases, the examiner's grade approval must be done via regular mail to the lecturer.
Note that projects are only 'active' / can be viewed in CensorNet for 10 weeks from the deadline set for the project in the Project Reporting System. After that, the project are no longer visible and a grade cannot be reported via the grading system but must be reported to AUS via a printed list of grades/an email.
The external examiner must not be employed or have been employed at DTU within the last 2 years. Members of DTU's Board of Governors cannot act as external examiners at the university. An honorary professor or associate professor at DTU cannot act as an external examiner at DTU either.
To the extent possible, examiners must not perform censoring assignments for each other (mutual censorship).
According to the Examination Order, the chairmanship of the corps of external examiners must approve the choice of examiners for the exam. This is why you must enter the use of examiners on CensorNet prior to the exam periods. The registration is also important since it is a prerequisite for a censor feedback form to be created on CensorNet. The form must be completed by the examiner in order for him/her to submit a report on the examination process to the university and the examiner's chairmanship, cf. the Examination Order. The departments must remember to remind the examiners of the importance of completing the mandatory feedback form.
At CensorNet you can find information on how to register the examiner for a specific exam.
The position of the chairmanship is that all external examiners in the corps should be used at least once a year to ensure the principles of frequency of use and rotation in the use of examiners in the corps. For the same reason, the chairmanship often refuses to approve candidates for reappointment for a new term if the candidate in question has not been used as an examiner during the previous term. See also the section below on 'Post-appointment of examiners within the 4-year term'.
The Examination Order section 23 stipulates that both the examiner and the external examiner must take notes on the performance and grading during the voting. The notes are for the use of the assessors' preparation of an opinion in connection with a possible examination complaint. The notes must be kept for at least one year, and in addition until a possible complaint has been completed.
An EU ruling has ruled that students have the right to see the examiner's and external examiner's assessment notes, even without an examination complaint being lodged. Read more about this at DTU Inside at 'Students right to access to documents'.
The Examination Order requires that at least 1/3 of an education's total ECTS credits must be evaluated with external examination. The head of studies must ensure that the students in the programme generally meet the minimum requirement for external examination of the programme. This is justified by the fact that assessment notes are information that is linked to the examinee's person and is thus covered by the Personal Data Directive.
There must be external examination in the essential areas of the programme, including the final project for the programme (BEng project, BSc project, master's thesis etc.).
In addition, external examination must be used as a general rule
- in technological line subjects (teknologiske linjefag) in the Bsc programmes, where possible and natural
- ·oral examinations, including reports where the oral presentation has a significant impact on the overall grade
For reasons of legal certainty, two assessors must always participate in an oral examination, or where the type of assessment contains an oral element. In addition to the examiner, either an external examiner or an internal co-assessor from DTU must participate.
In general, there should be no external examiner when assessing professional projects (fagprojekter).
It always appears from the course description in the course database whether a course is assessed with an external examiner or by internal assessment.
If an external examiner is used in a course with part-exams that are evaluated using partial grades, it is not necessary to have external examination on all part-exams, but only on the main part(s). An external examiner must be used in part-exams where it makes academic sense and where it strengthens the quality and the students' legal security. If part-exams in a course are evaluated using overall assessment, an external examiner must be used on all part-exams included in the assessment.
As for courses with external examination, there must, as a general rule, also be an external examiner for the re-exam in the course. The exception may be a minor re-exam for only few students. If there are several part-exams in a re-exam, it is only a requirement that there is external examination of the most important elements of the re-exam, cf. above.
When filling in the grade form, the external examiner must in principle not sign, but you can choose to mark the selected answers on the grade sheet and have the external examiner sign that he has participated. The information may be relevant in the event of an exam complaint.
A censor at DTU receives his censor fee and any reimbursement for expenses for transport, driving in his own car, etc. by filling in and submitting his information via eForms (https://eforms.adm.dtu.dk)
The examiner receives a receipt for his/her report via email and can see his/her payslip in the e-Box when his/her report has been approved and sent for payment. You can see screenshots from eForms, including the fee rates, here.
The current censor fee rate is listed in the salery overview (Lønoversigt) from the Danish Employee and Competence Agency, in the section ”Censorvederlag” (rate A). Sundays and public holidays do not vary from weekdays according to the agreement. Remuneration for preparation prior to the exam as well as any processing of exam complaints after the exam is included in the examiner's fee and is not remunerated separately or in addition, cf. Circular on hourly paid teaching and circular on external examiner's remuneration, CIR no. 12407 of 17/01/2001 "Standards for time consumption".
It appears from the Circular that "when organizing external examination activities, the aim must be that, as far as possible, no more than 125 censor hours per semester are assigned to the individual external examiner”. The department and the external examiner in particular must be very aware of this provision, also since the 125 hours apply overall to all educational institutions the external examiner may have worked for.
The external examiners are appointed for 4 years at a time. The current term of office runs from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2022.
At each new appointment period, at least 1/4 of the external examiners in the censor corps must be replaced. At least 1/3 of the external examiners in the corps must be persons who have their main occupation outside the higher education institutions in one of the employment areas that the education is aimed at. It is the chairmanship/ secretariats that ensure that these requirements are complied with.
It is the individual departments that are responsible for appointing censors for appointment. The setting takes place exclusively electronically via www.censornet.dk, where under the HELP page there is a guide in the procedure for inviting censor candidates. The guide is available in both Danish and English. There is also a guide for the invited censor candidates on what to do when they receive an invitation.
The external examiner's secretariat at DTU (building, chemistry, basic and export specialization) or AAU (electrical, mechanical, and design specialization) takes care of the further process of the chairmanship's approval of the external examiner candidate and appointment by the Danish Agency for Research and Higher Education.
Although most external examiners should be appointed at the beginning of the new 4-year appointment period, there may be a need for post-appointment of external examiners during the period.
Before the department/lecturer invites a new censor candidate, however, it is important to ensure that there are not already external examiners in the censor corps who have the necessary competencies that are sought. This is something that the chairmanship emphasizes in their assessment of the post-appointment request.
Post-appointment takes place just like the ordinary appointment electronically via www.censornet.dk with the addition that the lecturer must justify why he/she wants this person appointed as examiner, e.g. that the person in question has special competencies that do not already exist in the existing censor corps.
Censor candidates are sent for post-appointment to the Agency approx. four times a year.
The external examiner's work is covered by the Public Administration Act, including the rules on incapacity and duty of confidentiality.
Projects carried out in whole or in part in private companies may be treated as confidential and the oral presentation may be closed to the public. See DTU Inside under 'Structure and rules'/'Exam forms'/ 'Oral exams'.
It can be agreed that the report may not be made publicly available. See DTU Inside under 'Archiving of final projects, exam assignments, etc.'
The application must be submitted to the Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI). The application consists of two parts and the application must be started by DTUas an employer for the censor task, after which the external examiner completes the second part as an employee. It is the secretariat of the corps of external examineres at DTU that starts the application with SIRI if the censor task is at DTU.
The lecturer and external examiner must contact censornet@adm.dtu.dk with information about the censor task to start the application process. The case processing time at SIRI is approx. 30 days, so it is important that the application is started in good time before the censor task is to be held. SIRI does not charge a fee for this permission.