We are Fine Art students at SHU who have had the value and credibility of our degrees made externally less credible overnight. Sheffield Hallam has made a decision to remove external examiners from hundreds of courses, a change that affects the legibility of our degrees, job prospects, and future educational opportunities outside of Sheffield.

This effects subjective courses like ours where we need external examiners to ensure we are treat with the same criteria as anywhere else. 

This decision was made without any consultation from students and tutors, with their concerns after finding out about the changes only being dismissed.

External examiners are essential to the credibility of a degree; the examiner roles is to ensure academic quality, fairness in grading, and adherence to national standards with other Universities. It should not matter which University anyone goes to for a degree.

An external examiner body is to serve as a necessary, critical check on the university's systems, safeguarding the interests of students and maintaining the institution's reputation. Without these external checks, degrees could become less valuable and this serious breach of contract has been made without any public transparency.

How can anyone trust the integrity of our assessments without third-party oversight?

Sheffield Hallam is part of a larger academic system that is trying to enforce this model to other Universities. This issue is not just confined to us but if allowed to be accepted here could be approved by other Universities to do with their own examining bodies. 

On behalf of all students concerned, we genuinely wish for other students on the Arts courses and beyond to sign this petition, urging Sheffield Hallam University to swiftly reinstate external examiners across all courses.

Your support in solidarity with students or as a student can send a clear message that educational standards must never be compromised to corporate models that wish to belittle the importance of our degree.