Assessment Practice in Fine Art Higher Degrees

Abstract

The study reported in this paper investigates the examination of fine art doctorates, and specifically how fine art examiners convey their assessment of the exegesis and exhibition in their written reports, drawing on 42 PhD fine art reports. Fine art examiners provided significant amounts of negative appraisal overall, little formative comment, and frequently wrote about the process of examination. Poor candidate engagement with relevant literature was identified as the key reason why examiners were harsher in their recommendations than colleagues in allied fields. The reports resonated with the ‘newness’ of examination in the field, the assessment language showed marked differences between the exegesis and the exhibition, and the relative emphasis in assessment centred on the exegesis.