Composition of an Examination Board
An Examination Board (EB) can be established for an individual degree programme or a cluster of degree programmes (e.g. Bachelor and Master programme for a certain education domain or even a combination of several Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree programmes, which then will be somehow related or for a whole faculty).
Appointing members - ensuring that members function independently and with expertise
It is legally indicated (Dutch Education Act; WHW) that the board members must be able to function with expertise and on the basis of independence.
The governing body of the institution (represented by the dean of a faculty) should guarantee that the EB can operate independently and with due expertise. When appointing the members of the Examination Board, the Dean is expected to check whether the members together meet the desired expertise with regard to the degree programme, knowledge about testing and assessment quality aspects and the statutory duties of members of an Examination Board. The EB as a whole must cover these different areas of expertise.
Independence means, for example, that the dean or University Board cannot impose any obligations on the EB regarding the assessment of students and awarding of qualifications. It means also that EB members may not have financial responsibilities with regard to the programme. Managers (like the dean or programme director) can therefore not be members of an EB. To make a study advisor a member of the EB is also not advisable. This may lead to possible conflicts between representing the interests of the student and agreeing to the decisions of the EB. But a study advisor can advise when dealing with issues affecting individual students or groups of students. It is neither advisable to appoint persons who are (partly) responsible for quality assurance nor who are chair or member of certain participation bodies as members. Otherwise, there is too little distinction between quality assurance implementation and quality safeguarding (monitoring, verification).
Independence does not mean that EB's have total freedom in terms of decision-making and activities. They operate within the framework of the Dutch Education Act (WHW) and the Education and Examination Regulations (EER. In Dutch: Onderwijs- en Examenregeling; OER)) of their programme/faculty. They also have to follow the Rules and Guidelines that they themselves have drawn up.
Independence does also not mean that boards cannot consult the, for example, programme director. Nor does it mean that measures to improve the quality of assessment cannot be developed together with the programme management.
Defining profiles and operational guidelines
Although the law provides an institution/faculty/study programme degrees of freedom to determine the guidelines for the composition of an EB, it is recommended to draw up guidelines and descriptions of profiles of the members on the basis of their specific roles and tasks (e.g.: chairman, secretary, general member). A specific profile can also be drawn up for external members and the registrar.
The Internal Charter (in Dutch: Huishoudelijk Reglement) for the EB and/or the Rules and Guidelines (on the programme or faculty level) can specify the guidelines and profiles. These documents can also indicate for how long an appointment applies and whether and under what conditions a person can be reappointed (in a certain role, for example as chairman).
Number of members
There are no strict rules regarding the number of members of an Examination Board (EB). Based on the Dutch Education Act (WHW), but at least 1 member is involved as a lecturer in the education programme for which the Examination Board is responsible. Another rule is that an external member, not part of the education programme(s) in question, is part of the board.
External member
The idea behind the involvement of an external member is the 'extra eyes' principle (in Dutch “vreemde ogen” principle). By involving people from outside the programme, you can, on the one hand, increases the legitimacy of the way testing and assessment are conducted. On the other hand, you can bring in special expertise. The external member may for instance come from the professional field, he/she may be recruited from within the institution but another faculty or degree programme, he/she may be a lecturer from a similar programme at another institution or an expert in the field of testing and assessment or educational sciences.
Secretary or registrar
The EB may appoint one of its members as secretary but an EB (or group of boards) can also be supported by an executive secretary or registrar. The registrar is not a member of the board and has no voting rights. The tasks of the registrar may include: drawing up the agenda for the meeting together with the chair; taking minutes; dealing with student requests after a decision has been taken and on behalf of the EB; archiving documents and correspondence; verifying proposed viewpoints and decisions of the EB in the light of the relevant frameworks, procedures and statutory provisions (such as the EER, the WHW, Rules & Guidelines of the EB) and supervising the procedural progress of action points after taken decisions.
For an overview of (links to) the Examination Boards of the University of Twente, look [here].