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UM Members of University academic staff, wishing to invite visiting lecturers, visiting examiners, and non-visiting examiners during academic year 2019/20 are asked to submit their requests to the Visiting Lecturers and External Examiners Committee (VLEEC) by Friday 11 April 2019. The policy on external examiners is available here. 

For visiting lecturers, please submit Form VLEE01, for PhD visiting external examiners; Form VLEE02, for PhD non-visiting external examiners; Form VLEE02a, for external examiners for Bachelor’s degree programmes; Form VLEE03, for non-visiting external examiners for Bachelor’s degree programmes; Form VLEE03a, for external examiners for Master’s programmes (taught); Form VLEE04, for non-visiting external examiners for Master’s programmes (taught); Form VLEE04a and for non-visiting external examiners for Master’s programmes (by research); Form VLEE05.

The respective VLEEC Forms can be accessed through the following links:

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee01

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee02

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee02a

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee03

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee03a

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee04

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee04a

/vleec/forms/2020/vlee05 

The names of persons recommended should be accompanied by an up-to-date curriculum vitae and publication list. Ideally, there should not be any joint publications with the visiting scholars, to avoid conflict of interest.

When making requests please note the following guidelines:

1. Visiting and non-visiting staff should be members of universities or research institutions of high repute. Visiting staff should preferably be considered from institutions within Europe due to travelling expenses. However, the Committee may, if requested, provide funds to support visitors from outside Europe to a maximum amount of €450, beyond which costs will have to be covered by other funds, in addition to per diem allowance of €105 to a maximum of 5 nights.
   
2. For PhD candidates an external examiner shall be approved on a visiting basis to a maximum of 2 nights, as well as an external examiner on a non-visiting basis.
   
3. The maximum subsistence allowance rate allocated for visiting examiners and lecturers is of €105 per night. Kappara Hotel is the official accommodation for visiting scholars of the University of Malta and the rate for 2019 is of €50 per night. Thus, if these scholars opt to stay at the Kappara Hotel the subsistence allowance will be split as follows:
   
   €50 to cover the accommodation costs;
   
   €55 to cover any other expenses incurred by the visiting lecturers / examiners.
   
   Kappara Hotel must be booked through Valletta Campus by contacting Ms Anna Maria Mifsud via email on anna-maria.mifsud@um.edu.mt.  A copy of the submitted form should be sent together with the booking in order for VLEEC to give approval. Visiting scholars that opt for a different hotel will receive the amount of €105 per night, but without any deduction for accommodation.
   
   
4. When an examiner has given three years of service to the University, an alternative should be sought, unless there are exceptional circumstances. An external examiner appointed to assess Master’s dissertations shall normally not be asked for service after the fifth consecutive assignment. An examiner is also expected not to have previously given teaching services to the University of Malta;
5. The duration of stay of a visiting lecturer will be determined by the size of the teaching assignment, but should not exceed 5 nights;
6. Visitors can be substituted in cases where the academic who was originally invited is unable to provide the service to the University. In such cases, approval for a substitute is to be sought from VLEEC.
7. Funds committed for a period that remain unutilised may not be automatically carried over for use beyond that period: in such cases, approval will need to be sought from VLEEC;
8. Expenditure on entertainment of visiting staff is to be debited to Faculty funds and will not be covered from the VLEEC Vote;
9. If details of the visitors are not yet known, the application should be submitted by inputting “TO BE ANNOUNCED (TBA)” in order to secure funds.  These changes will be reflected in the form owner's spreadsheet and in the summary of responses. When the name of the visiting scholar is identified the response can be amended by using the Edit your response link, removing TBA, amending details and upload CV. After submitting the amended form send a copy of the new form to vlee.committee@um.edu.mt. This is done so as the Office of the Registrar will be able to submit nominees for Rector’s consideration and Senate’s approval. 
10. Approved lists will be forwarded to Deans/Directors/Administrative Officers in charge by end of June. It is the responsibility of the Administrative Officers-in-charge to circulate standard operating procedures and guidelines for the visiting lecturers and external examiners to the Departmental secretaries.
11. Applications cover the period of one academic year and will be received eight weeks following the launch date.
12. In relation to issues about payments, Ms Daphne Mifsud, Procurement Section University of Malta should be contacted directly on 2340 3968 or by email address: daphne.mifsud@um.edu.mt.
13. VLEEC only accepts electronic communications for reasons of security and environmental concerns.  All communications should be sent online to the following email address: vlee.committee@um.edu.mt and not to any individual.
14. The services offered by the VLEE are either funded through the tuition fees payable by the students enrolled on a particular programme or through funding granted to the UM.
15. Visiting external examiners engaged for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as non-visiting external examiners engaged to review the taught component of Master’s degrees obtained mainly by taught study-units, shall be required to forward a report directly to Rector on the following email address rector@um.edu.mt. The report should specifically address both the quality of academic standards and the process of evaluation and examination of students.  The report should also point out any strengths and/or weaknesses that require attention and is to reach Rector within one month following completion of the assignment by the examiner.
16. Reports received from external examiners are reviewed by Rector and the Chair of VLEEC. Reports are retained by the Chairperson of the Committee for reference and quality assurance purposes, while copies of the reports are returned to the Head of Department/Head of Division/Directors by end of the calendar year.

Please ensure that applications reach VLEEC by the announced deadline, since applications cannot be considered once the funds available to the Committee are allocated.