Meet Mike Smith, MA External Examiner

Mike Smith

Meet Mike Smith, our External Examiner for our MA in 3D animation.  Mike is course leader of the BA (Hons) in Animation at Leeds Arts University, making him well qualified to keep an eye on our animation work here at Bucks New Uni.

External examiners ensure that standards are consistent across the animation sector. They check our grades, making sure we're awarding marks appropriately, and that our standards are consistent with other universities and colleges in the UK.

Of course, we also second mark all the grades at MA level at Bucks, but the role of the external examiner is to add a third layer of quality control to make sure everything is done right.

Course Leader at Leeds Arts University
Mike Smith is course leader on the thriving animation course at Leeds Arts University, where the students tackle animation in a broad range of media, from stop-motion to 2D animation and - of course - 3D digital animation.

Mike brings his years of knowledge, understanding and enthusiasm for Animation to our course, helping to make sure our standards are appropriate and correct.

He also has an MA in Online and Distance Education, which makes him perfect to oversee our MA in 3D animation, which is an entirely distance learning course.  Mike is also an external examiner at UCA Farnham and the University of Westminster.

Leeds Arts University

The role of an external examiner
External examiners ensure that standards are consistent across the animation sector. They check our grades, making sure we're awarding marks appropriately, and that our standards are consistent with other universities and colleges in the UK.

For our MA students, this involves double-checking our marks, to make sure that both first and second marking (we second-mark all the results internally) has been carried out fairly, in accordance with Bucks New Uni regulations.

We're delighted to have Mike Smith on board to keep an eye on us. As an external examiner for Westminster and also Farnham, he's often in our neighbourhood, so it will hopefully be relatively easy for him to drop in and see our student work, making sure that our work and our marking is of the highest standard. 

For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days, take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK.