How does the External Examiners system work at IMI to ensure a totally fair and transparent grading system for IMI students?

Undergraduate:
Hospitality - Professor Nigel Morgan, University of Wales in Cardiff, UK
Tourism - Dr Edith Szivas, University of Surrey, UK

Postgraduate/MBA
Professor Patricia Rees, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

The process at IMI is as follows:

Before mid-semester, all exam papers and answer keys are submitted to the IMI Exam Officer who collates them and sets up an internal peer review with a group of lecturers. Exams are given back to lecturers for amendments and resubmitted to the Exam Officer who then forwards them to the respective external examiners for approval/comment. Any necessary changes are made and final, approved exam papers submitted back to the Exam Officer who then is responsible for organizing copying and distribution etc during the exam period together with the Registrar.

Exams are held and marked. A sample of exam scripts and coursework assessments in each of the bands (usually 3 As, 3 Bs, 3Cs, 3 Ds and all fails) are organized by lecturers for each unit, together with a completed Unit Evaluation Report and an overview of student marks for each element of assessment and final mark. All dissertations and their mark sheets are made available for review

The External Examiners then spend 2 days prior to the Exam Board looking at all this documentation to check that the marking and feedback to students is fair, consistent and equivalent to performance on other BA programmes.

The Exam Board is held to approve each student's award/degree classification and is also attended by 2 members from MMU - Maurice Palin who is our Liaison Tutor and John Fenby who is head of the department's Academic Standards Committee. They are here particularly to ensure that degree awards are fair and consistent with MMU decisions. Once all awards have been agreed, the External Examiners each give a brief verbal feedback report which usually offers items for improvement/consideration. A formal, written report is subsequently submitted to IMI and MMU and matters for action are taken from this to be discussed at the next programme committee.



Certificate
IMI Certificate in International Hotel and Tourism Management


Who is the programme for? This 5 month programme, which is validated by IMI's UK partner the Manchester Metropolitan University, is equivalent to the first year of university and is designed for school leavers who wish to begin their academic and industry career in hospitality and tourism with a good grounding in operational management.

 

Requirements for Admission

17years of age
High school certificate or equivalent eg GCE O/A Levels
Proficiency in English: 500 TOEFL (paper-based), 173 TOEFL (computer-based), 5.0 IELTS, or equivalent Applicants who do not have the required English level may join the 4-week Intensive English Certificate (IEC) or the 12-week University English Preparatory Course (UEPC).

Programme objective and content
The objective of the programme is to give students a sound professional education in the operational management of hospitality and tourism organizations with a particular focus on food and beverage operations, accommodation systems and global hospitality and tourism trends. The programme also includes opportunities to acquire fundamental skills in languages, information technology, communication, business planning and self-development.