Fees and expenses for External Examiners for taught programmes

Fees

The information set out below is the standard University guidance for external examiner fees. The fee level is set at the discretion of the school (and may therefore differ from the guidance set out here depending on local conditions). The agreed fee must be specified in the nomination form as AQPO will confirm this in the appointment letter to the External Examiner using the details provided.  Please contact the Academic Quality and Policy Office (exex-admin@bristol.ac.uk) if you have any queries.     

Undergraduate

  • A standard basic annual fee of £150 per programme, plus £5 per full-time-equivalent candidate.

Postgraduate Taught

  • A standard basic annual fee of £150 per programme, plus either £25 per dissertation OR £20 per candidate.
  • Taught doctorates £150.

As a guide, the standard maximum overall fee for an external examiner is £800.

Where there is more than one external examiner covering the same programme, the student element in the calculation (which provides a measure of examining load) would normally be divided between the number of external examiners. The basic fee element would remain at £150 for all examiners.

  

Fee and expense claims

External examiners should submit their completed External examiner fee/expense claim form to their school contact who will verify that the external examiner report has been submitted and obtain sign off from the budget holder. The school will then forward the claim form to their Faculty finance team for approval. Claim forms can be downloaded here. 

Please note that HMRC requires income tax to be deducted on payments for undergraduate fees at source and not on payments for postgraduate fees. It is important that the claim form is correctly completed to ensure the right tax treatment. External examiners who examine programmes at both UG and PG level will need to submit separate claim forms for the work at each level (adding up to the total agreed fee).

Full details of the University's Regulations for Travelling and Subsistence Expense Claims, including mileage allowance can be found on the Finance Services web pages.

External Examiners for research students

For information on external examiners for research programmes please contact pgr-exams@bristol.ac.uk or visit the guidance for PGR examiners webpage, which contains information on external examiner fees for research degree examinations.