External Examiners Reporting System (EERS) - FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there more than one Key School Contact per school?
There is one and only one person defined as the UG contact for a School, and one and only one person defined as the PG contact for a School. There is nothing stopping the same person acting as both the UG and PG contact for a School. There is only ever one and only one key contact per report, which will be the appropriate School contact depending on whether the report is a UG or PG report.
Where can I find all the reports for my school?
The School Key Contact has a School Reports tab available on their dashboard, clicking on this tab will present a list of all reports for the school together with the status of each report and where an examiner has submitted or an academic response coordinator has responded to a report, there will be options presented to view the report and the response.
Where can I find all the reports for my college?
The College Key Contact has a College Reports tab available on their dashboard, clicking on this tab will present a list of all reports for the college together with the status of each report and where an examiner has submitted or an academic response coordinator has responded to a report, there will be options presented to view the report and the response.
Who allocates Readers and Academic Response Coordinators to External Examiner Reports?
Key School contacts allocate reports to Readers and Academic Response Coordinators to External Examiner Reports.
How do I allocate Readers to a report?
When you allocate a report you need to add readers from your School Distribution List, there are 2 steps to follow:-
- Set up up your School Distribution List with the details of all possible readers you may ever want to select from to allocate to a particular report.
- For each report you are allocating you must select the appropriate readers for the report from the readers available in your School Distribution List.
Can the Key School Contact amend the reader list after the report has been allocated?
The Key Contact may change the Readers allocated to a report up to the point of the External Examiner submitting the report. It’s the report submission that triggers the email to all the Readers. If, after submission, the Key Contact identifies a further Reader the Key Contact can copy the report link and email this directly to the specific Reader.
Can the Key School Contact amend the academic response coordinator after the response has been allocated?
The Key Contact may change the Academic Response Coordinator of a report up to the point of the response submission. Following response submission the report is removed from the allocation list.
Why can I see two reports per External Examiner to be allocated?
The two reports relate to the academic year of the external examiner report - one is for 18/19 which we want to receive now and one for 19/20 which we want to receive next year. Allocate the 18/19 External Examiner first. Only allocate the 19/20 External Examiner Report after you have received the 18/19 External Examiner Report.
What if I have allocated the two reports to the External Examiner?
Speak to or email your External Examiner around the time of their Board of Examiner meeting and remind them that they should return the External Examiner Report for 2018/19. You might wish to remind them twice! How will they identify which report to return? Click on the link in the notification email and check the top of the report as it states which year the External Examiner Report covers.
Do all readers need to be from the same School?
No they do not need to be.
External Examiner Accessing the System
My External Examiner has been notified that they have a report ready to draft but they cannot access the system. What might the issue be?
One of the issues maybe that the External Examiner may not have registered their University of Edinburgh login (UUN). Please contact Student Systems support via studentsystems@ed.ac.uk
My External Examiner already has a visitor registration with another school. How do they access the system?
They can log iin their current login details and EERS will identify their user name and give them access to their report. When the current visit ends, their login details will transfer to their new visit and there will be no need for them to re-register with Your University Login.
Academic Response Coordinator
Why must I only use the role title of individuals when responding to the external examiner report? As the External Examiner Reporting System is open to all staff with EUCLID access, Academic Response Coordinators asked not to identify students or staff by name in their reports. Instead Academic Response Coordinators should refer to a person by their role. External Examiners have also been asked to observe this request which is contained in the External Examiner Handbook.
Will ticking the school, college or institution buttons against a comment make a difference? How does it work?
The clicking of radio is a tag created so that reports can be drawn off for analytical purposes for aggregated data. It makes it easier for Schools, Colleges and Institutional level to take stock of comments and whether action needs to be taken. If, however, you think the matter needs urgent input from the College or Academic Services before the external examiner can be responded to, than please feel free to do this by emailing your relevant contact.
What if I think the external examiner's comment refers to a school, college and the institution ?
It may be best to tick the school as you will be able to comment on your school's approach to the matter.