Help I need advice. I work at University A and have jsut started my PhD at University B. Lead supervisor at university B is one of our external examiners at Uni A (and in his final year). Part of my job is to liaise with external examiners and as part of this I had to send draft exam papers to my supervisor. His comments have just come back and they are REALLY harsh. The letter is addressed to me but obviously the comments are specific to various members of staff who set the different questions. I can cope with criticism of my questions not having numbers next to them and odd comments about model answers including statements that are superfluous, but there are some really harsh comments (the word unacceptable is used twice (relating to lack of model answers), he proposes one question be dropped or replaced and another be reconsidered). So here is my dilemma - all the comments relate to colleagues and most of them to the head of department (who may well say "stuff him"). I feel that I need to let my supervisor know that the problem questions are nothing to do with me - but how do I do it.

I have sent my colleagues (one of who is away on fieldwork and the HoD has been tied up all week in some uni stuff) an e-mail outlining the changes needed and have said that I haven't gone back to the external but given the nature of the comments (and my relationship with him) I feel I need to.


Any advice?

It does sound a bit of a dilemma alright but what you have to do is seperate both issues. From what I grasp is that
a. The extern has pointed out some questions about an exam paper
b. You are worried that it will descend into personal tit for tat

You just have to call for a meeting to deal with the issue of the exam paper itself and follow some form of process ... after all, it is the extern's duty to point out what he/she thinks is wrong with an exam paper. I'd call for an internal meeting at your workplace and make a list of points brought by the external examiner and if possible, see if you can get rid of the personal criticisms from the review. Make a list of generic points of where there were things pointed out, using "reword" or "replace question". They don't need to see the initial report.

I wouldn't worry so much about your relationship as per your research. Maybe do this report and send it onto the extern first with a bit of a more diplomatic wording.

Thanks for the reply
To be honest my biggest concnern is that I want my supervisor to know that the problem questiosn were nothing to do with me - maybe I will send the external an e-mail saying I have dealt wth comments on my questions (with specifics) and have passed the others on to colleagues.