Guidelines for examiners and co-examiners
External co-examiners play an important role in ensuring the quality and development of the university’s degree programmes.
External co-examiners help to ensure:
Co-examiners not only contribute to external exams, but also provide advice about the exam system, including the form and content of exams and whether exams function as intended in accordance with the objectives of the degree programme in question.
After each exam period, each external co-examiner submits a report which is included in the university’s quality assurance system.
External co-examiners also help to deal with any complaints and appeals that are submitted in connection with exams.
The activities of external co-examiners are covered by the Danish Public Administration Act, including the rules on conflicts of interest and confidentiality.
See section 2 of the Danish Public Administration Act on conflicts of interest
See section 8 of the Danish Public Administration Act on confidentiality
In addition, section 7 of The ministerial Order on Co-examiners states that external co-examiners may not be used by universities at which they are currently employed (or at which they have been employed within the past two years). This applies throughout the university concerned – including other faculties.
As an external co-examiner you are responsible for ensuring that the provisions of the Danish Public Administration Act and the Examination Order are observed: you must contact the chair of your body of external co-examiners if you experience a conflict of interest. You must also inform the chair of the body of external co-examiners if you are employed by any of the universities.
If your contact information changes, you must inform the chair of the body of external co-examiners and the exam administrators at the universities employing you as an external co-examiner.
The Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education has collaborated with SmartLearning to develop an online course for external co-examiners to help them manage the tasks facing them. This course has been developed in collaboration with relevant stakeholders including institutions, chairs of bodies of external co-examiners, and students.
It is an online course lasting a few hours based on five topics:
For further information about this course, please contact the chair of the body of external co-examiners concerned.
When you have been appointed as an external co-examiner for an exam at the Faculty of Arts, a study coordinator will inform you of the practical details connected to this exam.
Exams must always comply with the provisions of the academic regulations, and of course with the Examination Order.
This is where you will find academic regulations for the Faculty of Arts
All exams at the Faculty of Arts are administered by WISEflow.
This is where you will find all the relevant information about exams such as contact information about the examiner, links to the academic regulations and other relevant information, and a timetable for the oral exams and (of course) the written assignments.
Assignments and notes which the assessors are obliged to keep can be stored in WISEflow after exams have been completed.
All examination results must be entered in WISEflow by both examiners and co-examiners. Exams have not been assessed until both the examiner and the co-examiner have entered their grade.
Here you can see the various ways in which results can be registered
The university sets an assessment deadline in cases when students are not informed of assessments immediately after exams have been conducted.
The students must be informed of the result within four weeks for written exams and within six weeks for theses, but the university may set a shorter assessment deadline if this is deemed appropriate for the student concerned or for other reasons.
It may be necessary to set an assessment deadline of less than four weeks for re-examinations in particular.
If the assessment cannot be completed by the set deadline, section 27 subsection (2) of the Examination Order stipulates that the university must inform the student of this fact as soon as possible, stating the reasons and providing information about when the assessment will be announced.
So if you find yourself in a situation in which you are unable to meet the set deadline, you must contact the exam administrators as soon as possible and tell them why you cannot meet the deadline and when you will be able to assess the exam in question.
After the exam you must send a co-examiner report to the chair of your body of external co-examiners. The chair will use these reports as the basis of his/her annual report.Find link to the co-examiner report for your body of external co-examiners below:
Anthropology
Archaeologu, Ancient Studies and Heritage Studies
Dance Studies, Dramaturgy, Theatre research and Performance Studies
Danish
English
Business Language and Business Communikation
Film- and Media Studies
Philosophy
French
Educational Science
History
History of Ideas
Information Technology and Interactive Media Studies
International and European Studies
Journalism
Classical and Medieval Philologies
Communication
Culture- Aesthetics and Literature Studies
Art Historiy, Visuel and Material Culture
The Master Degree Programmes at the Danish School of Education
Musikvidenskab, -didaktik og -terapi
Politics, Sociuety and Globale Conditions
Psychology
Educational Anthropology
Religion
Rhetoric
Sociology
Spanish
Sprogbaserede områdestudier
Linguistic and Cognitive Subjects
Theology - Specialer
German
Uddannelsesvidenskab, Gymnasiepædagogik og Læring
We will pay you automatically for the exams that you have assessed. So you do not need to take any action in this connection.
Co-examiners are remunerated in accordance with state regulations (rate A).
The current rates of remuneration can be found in the Danish Employee and Competence Agency’s salary lists (see section 8.2. The latest list can be found using this link).
If you are not liable to taxation in Denmark because you are a co-examiner from outside Denmark, or because you live outside Denmark, please inform censor.arts@au.dk
Any travel expenses incurred in connection with working as an external co-examiner can be refunded. Aarhus University covers travel expenses corresponding to the cheapest form of standard travel using public transport.
Please complete this travel reimbursement form.
If you use your own car, you must inform us of the car’s registration number if you want to claim a mileage allowance. Please add this to the form.
If you have lost your documentation of the costs that you have incurred, please complete this solemn declaration.
If you need overnight accommodation, you must use the hotels with which AU has an agreement. You must order this accommodation yourself. Please contact the exam administrators for a list of hotels and further information.
According to section 24 of the Examination Order, co-examiners and examiners must take notes about the student’s performance and the grade during their discussion of the grade to be awarded. These notes can be used in case of complaints. The notes must be stored for at least one year plus the period required to resolve any complaints.
We recommend that you keep your notes in WISEflow. You will find guidelines for digital note-taking here.
Exam notes in physical form or any other material containing personal data must be kept under lock and key when you are not using it, and must only be accessible to people in positions of trust. This physical material must be destroyed in a responsible manner when there is no longer any reason to keep it.
Students are entitled to apply to see assessment notes at any time, whether or not they have complained about exams. You will find the procedure for releasing assessment notes here.
If you have any reason to suspect that students have cheated at exams, you will find the rules relating to cheating and the templates you will need to report it here.
These reports must be submitted in collaboration with the examiner.
The rights of students relating to complaints and appeals about assessments are stated in chapter 9 of the Examination Order.
Here are some of the issues about which students can complain:
1) Legal issues
2) The basis of the exam (questions, assignments etc.)
3) The examination process
4) The assessment
Complaints must be submitted no more than two weeks after students have been informed of assessments.
If the complaint is related to the assessment or other issues connected to the assessors, the university will present the case to the assessors immediately, after which they have two weeks to make a statement regarding the assessment and other issues in the complaint.
If the student’s complaint is rejected, the university’s decision on academic issues may be submitted to a board of appeals set up by the university.
The board of appeals will consist of two external co-examiners (appointed by the chair of the body of external co-examiners), and a member of the teaching staff authorised to conduct exams and a student within the subject area in question (appointed by the university). The chair of the body of external co-examiners will appoint one of the external co-examiners as the chair of the board of appeals.
The process of appointing external co-examiners for the next period (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2026) has been completed.
So at the moment it is not possible to submit applications for appointments to the bodies of external co-examiners which are administered by the Faculty of Arts.
When a new application period opens up, it will be annmounced on this website an in other relevant media.
If you want to learn more about being appointed as an external co-examiner, please contact the chair of the body in question. You will find their contact information in the link below.
Do you need to contact a programme coordinator at the Faculty of Arts? Please write to the teaching and exam team for the degree programme in question.
Degree programmes linked to the School of Communication and Culture (IKK)
Degree programmes linked to the School of Culture and Society (IKS)
Degree programmes linked to the Danish School of Education (DPU)
