High university official In some universities, a proctor is a high official.
University of Cambridge , aquatint by
John Samuel Agar after
Thomas Uwins, from
History of the University of Cambridge (1815) by
William Combe The early history of the office at Cambridge is obscure, but it seems that the Proctors have always represented the colleges in University proceedings. The Deputies to the Proctors are Professor
Markus Gehring (Deputy to the Senior Proctor) of
Hughes Hall and Dr Fraz Mir (Deputy to the Junior Proctor) of
King's College. The Pro-Proctors are Professor
Martin Dixon (Senior Pro-Proctor) of
Queens' College and Dr Daniel Trocme-Latter (Junior Pro-Proctor) of
Homerton College. The Pro-Proctor for Ceremonial is Mr Timothy Milner of
Darwin College. The Additional Pro-Proctors are Dr Mark Purcell of
Pembroke College and Dr Seb Falk of
Girton College. The first hundred years of Proctorial records are mostly lost, but the Proctors' Office web site has a more or less complete list of the Proctors since 1314.
Ceremonial functions The Proctors are
ex officio members of the Board of Scrutiny, the Board of Examinations, and various other bodies. Their presence is required at all Congregations of the Regent House, at which the Senior Proctor reads all the Graces and the Junior Proctor takes the vote of the Regent House. If any Grace is opposed by any member of the Senate saying
non-placet, the Proctors take the votes of those present and announce the result. Graces are offered not only for making changes in University Statutes and Ordinances and for appointing examiners and the like, but also for granting degrees. When a degree is to be taken, the college of the candidate presents a
supplicat or petition for the degree; this petition is approved by the Regent House, if and when they have satisfied themselves that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions, and is read at the Congregation by the Senior Proctor: these
supplicats are practically never opposed, but Graces for new Statutes and Ordinances are frequently opposed, and on very important occasions such as the election of a new Chancellor many hundreds of non-resident members of the Senate come up to record their votes. The reform of the university statutes in 2002 reorganised the disciplinary system of the university and reduced the powers of the Proctors. However, they still act as
ombudsmen for the university, and handle formal complaints by and against students (although more minor disciplinary matters are usually dealt with by the
Dean of each college). They have the power to issue
fines to members of the university for numerous offences, including
cheating in examinations. Prior to 2003, the Proctors were aided in disciplinary matters by the
Oxford University Police (who wore
bowler hats and were generally known as "Bulldogs"); the University Police were a private constabulary with full powers of arrest within the precincts of the university and within four miles (6 km) of any University building. However, after receiving public criticism in 2002 for their exercise of authority over citizens of Oxford who were not members of the university, the force was disbanded by the University Council in 2003, due partly to the excessive expense of complying with new Government requirements on police training and complaints procedures. Today, the Constables have been redesignated as "Proctors' Officers" and continue to serve under the Proctors, but no longer have the powers of police constables.
Examination supervisor In the
United States and some other countries, a proctor can be any teacher or other staff member at a university, secondary school, or even elementary school when they are
supervising the administration of a test or
examination; i.e., the role referred to as an "
invigilator" in British, Canadian, Australian and South African English.
Online proctoring Online proctoring is the monitoring or invigilation of assessments taken remotely. Online proctors verify test-taker identity and monitor to prevent cheating using a variety of methods, including live, record-and-review, and automated proctoring. Online proctoring services work with colleges, universities, corporations, and other certification providers to offer identity verification services and assessment monitoring. Demand for online proctoring has expanded in recent years as a result of rapid expansions in online learning. In 2006, the
Department of Education waived the so-called “50 percent rule,” which stipulated that U.S. students in online degree programs could only receive federal student aid if half of their programs were campus-based. As of 2017, one in three students take at least one course online during their college career. In addition, instructors in face-to-face classes can also administer exams online. Higher education institutions around the world make use of online proctoring for tens of thousands of exams. The 17 campuses of the University of North Carolina proctor between 30,000 and 40,000 exams online per year. At the fully online
Western Governors University, 30,000 exams are proctored online each month. Recent estimates suggest However, one study found that nearly three-quarters of college students hold the perception that cheating online is easier than cheating in person. In 2016, USA Today reported on research by Examity which suggests that 6% of students violate rules for proctored online exams. There is clear evidence to that it is easily possible to circumvent e-proctoring software. A scientific test of the Proctorio software at the Dutch University of Twente showed that the software was not able to detect any of the cases of examination fraud it was subjected to. The conclusion was that the sensitivity of Proctorio is disastrous and should be considered at very close to zero. Some online proctoring providers give colleges and universities access to anonymized, aggregated data on proctoring and cheating rates. These analytics tools allow institutions to measure their violation rates against other schools, as well as to track incidents by time of year and type of course, among other metrics. ==See also==