*Update 5 September 2024:
Thank you very much to those staff members who have engaged with the Phase 2 consultation period for the Transforming the Academic Year project; it is very much appreciated. We have been alerted to some inconsistencies in the document. To ensure the document is as clear as possible for staff, these inconsistencies have been amended. The changes made are as follows:
- Change at 15:43 Monday 2 September: Option 3 was amended to show the Autumn term starting 2 weeks earlier, rather than 1 week.
- Changes at 10:30 Thursday 5 September: Reference to changes to the length of the Spring Vacation and addition of a consolidation week were removed from Option 2 and added to Option 3, the word “immediately” was removed from the sentence related to the Semester 2 examination period in Option 3.
If you have already submitted your views on your preferred option, and wish to amend your views, please do contact us.*
The University is reviewing the structure of its academic year in an effort to alleviate issues raised by students and academic and professional services staff. A project has been running over the last six months to explore how we could differently organise our academic calendar to facilitate smoother workloads and improve the student experience. We are now encouraging the whole university community to comment on their preferred option for change and the perceived benefits and consequences of each of these options. This consultation is open to all staff and students until Friday 13 September 2024.
The Project
Our staff and students tell us that the peaks of assessment-related workload are stressful and impact on their wellbeing. Detailed work has been undertaken over the last six months overseen by a Steering Group, led by the VP Education & Student Experience to identify a set of possible options for change.
The first phase of this project aimed to identify a set of potential options for changes to the Academic Calendar. Interviews and small group sessions were conducted with various stakeholders to understand the peaks in workload; the processes they were associated with; and thoughts on potential changes to the academic calendar. Benchmarking data and case studies from across the sector were also collated to inform this review and a consultation was open for input across our community. From this exploratory work, a long list of possible options has been narrowed down to a final set of four recommended options for change.
This second phase of the project includes this consultation that aims to present these four options as worked up examples so that the whole university community can comment on their preferred option for change and the perceived benefits and consequences of each of these options.
Deborah Gill, who has led this steering group commented:
“This project has seen really detailed and considered work and I am hugely grateful to the Steering Group members and all those colleagues and students who have spent many hours considering the nature of the challenge and potential solutions in the first phase of this project. There is of course no perfect solution; it was clear from the work conducted so far that different stakeholder groups prioritised different area of challenges in identifying their preferred solution. The four options for change for consideration in this consultation try to balance the benefits, and consequences, of any change for the whole community and we hope we can identify a way forward that creates the greatest improvement for the majority of our staff and students.”
The Consultation
You can take part in the consolation and read about the work carried out so far here Consultation – Transforming the Academic Year Project. We welcome individual responses from anyone in our community and also welcome the views of Schools and Faculties as a whole and other groups with an interest in the structure of the academic year.
The consultation closes at 17:00 on Friday 13 September and the outcomes will inform a paper for Senate to consider this matter early in academic year 2024/25.