Examination of doctoral courses
Each course must have an examiner who sets grades after the course is completed. This page describes what is required to be a course examiner, how an examiner is appointed and what is important to keep in mind when it comes to examination.
Guidelines for course examiner
According to the Higher Education Ordinance, the university shall appoint an examiner to set grades upon completion of a course. As the course director, you are responsible for contacting your head of department / department management to inform about your planned course and provide a basis for decision regarding an examiner.
At KI the following applies for examiners:
- The head of the course responsible department is delegated the right to appoint examiners for doctoral courses. The head can, if he/she wishes, delegate this right of decision to someone else.
- Examiners of doctoral courses must have a doctoral degree
- Examiners of doctoral courses must be employed at KI (see below about affiliated persons)
- There must be a written decision on appointed examiners
- One examiner per course
It is advisable to appoint an examiner for each specific course and for a limited time. The written decision about the examiner can, for example, consist of a list of all the department's courses during the current semester, with the examiner's name stated for each course. This list, or other collection of decisions, must be available to the department's Ladok administrator for doctoral courses.
The appointed examiner may in some cases belong to a department other than the one responsible for the course.
Additional teachers on a course can, by delegation, be responsible for formulating or marking examination assignments or for assessing students in oral or written examination, either partially or on the whole course. The assessing teachers are liable to hand over the documentation of assessment to the examiner who is responsible for setting the grade.
Affiliated and the role as examiner
An affiliated person cannot exercise authority on behalf of KI. In the event that an affiliated person is appointed as an examiner on a course, he/she shall be employed as an adjunct teacher/adjunct during the time period of the course, i.e. the same period for which the examiner is appointed.
The examiner's role in Ladok
Since a new version of Ladok was launched in 2017 the examination is done directly in the system by the appointed examiner. Read more at Ladok e-learning course for teachers and examiners.
See also Reporting and signing results in Ladok - doctoral courses.
Examination
The course syllabus shows how a doctoral course is going to be examined. It is important that intended learning outcomes, learning activities and examination are related and coherent. The examination must contain a summative (and when appropriate also a formative) assessment of each course participant.
Digital examinations via distance
Read more about how to carry out examinations when the course is given online.
Alternative exams
Alternative exams or extended examination time are adjustments that can be made for students with disabilities.
The prerequisite is that the student has applied for special support and obtained an approval, as well as requested it from the examiner at least two weeks prior to the examination.
Read more about targeted study support for students with disabilities.
Ouriginal anti-plagiarism system
Ouriginal is to be used at KI as an anti-plagiarism system for examinations in doctoral courses whenever the course director deems it appropriate. Ouriginal (formerly Urkund) is an automated system that checks the students' examination data against the internet, publishing materials and student materials. If something in an assignment sent via Ouriginal shows similarities with the content of the sources, the teacher is informed of this. See further information at Disciplinary matters.