Most degrees (in England at least) take three years. A lot of that time is spent on holidays. The university summer runs from May to October. That's almost 5 months. If universities worked through this time, as well as having shorter Xmas and Easter holidays, then students could graduate in two years. This would be cheaper for the government, and great for students who would not need to get into so much debt. I understand that students will not have time to get jobs in holidays but this will hopefully be offset by having to pay a years less rent and amenities whilst on a student budget.

I don't think the scheme would work for everyone, but adopted by some universities could make them more cost effective. I have no idea how this would work in the US. Probably not as the colleges are looking to milk the students for all they have.

Universities are traditional places where rational change is often put down. Put an end to this!
-- kanes, Nov 15 2004

Fast Track Degree http://www.belforduniversity.org/?ase=gl
"Add degrees to your resume in just 10 days & open avenues to promotion & better jobs!" [jurist, Nov 16 2004]

Trimesters http://www.deakin.edu.au/trimesters/
One university in Australia is moving from the two semester plus a long summer holiday programme to three trimesters this year. [reap, Dec 29 2008]

Accelerated degrees are commonplace, aren't they?

Also, isn't taking the summer off up to the student?
-- bristolz, Nov 16 2004


Most Universities in the US offer significant options for coursework in the summer months. Many students take advantage of this to shave off a year or so from their school years. On the other hand, many other students need to work in the summer to be able to afford to keep their loan debt to a slightly less insane amount. In any case, the cost savings will not be that dramatic, as any school that is normally closed in the summer would have to incur higher costs to stay open during that time, and neither they, nor the government, would save money from reduced rent and other incidental expenses that the students would.
-- JakePatterson, Nov 16 2004


The point of uni is not to pump as much information as possible into the student's mind, rather to help the student acquire an intellectual maturity. Time is an essential in this maturing process, and the 'down time' (eg. sleep, holidays etc) is just as important as the learning time.
-- xaviergisz, Nov 16 2004


When I was a student in the UK (OK, about 20 years ago) the point of the vacations was to provide time to study, at least to a large extent. You were not expected to spend the whole vacation doing nothing, or working for money.
I guess that things have changed, since it's more important now to earn money during the vacations. Perhaps partly because of this, students (at least in sciences - can't speak for other subjects) are coming out of university knowing less and less beyond the bare minimum. In many cases (again, only in sciences that I know of) the degree courses are being extended to four years, at least if you want to go on to do a PhD.
You also have to consider that the dons generally expect to be able to do some of their own research, and this goes on largely during the vacations.

The solution is to remove the financial pressures from students so that they can afford to spend most of their 'vacation' time studying. [-]
-- Basepair, Jul 24 2005


//Most degrees (in England at least) take three years. A lot of that time is spent on holidays. The university summer runs from May to October. That's almost 5 months. If universities worked through this time, as well as having shorter Xmas and Easter holidays,//

...Then (in England at least) you would have reinvented the U.S. college and university schedule... although I suppose in England it might still be possible to actually graduate after taking eight semesters of twelve units each.
-- ye_river_xiv, Dec 29 2008


The length of time it takes to get a degree is actually one of the things it is certifying. You cannot change the system that we currently use without recognizing how it works right now. Don't forget to examine the interaction between class, lesure and the "meritocracy".
-- WcW, Dec 29 2008



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