Next year’s Freshers’ Week will start on September 3rd, weeks earlier than usual, as part of sweeping changes to the academic year structure under the Trinity Education Project.
The earlier start to the year was announced in an email sent out to all students by the Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Chris Morash.
The first teaching week will begin on September 10th – two weeks earlier than this year.
Supplemental examinations will take place earlier in the summer for those taking them in the 2017/18 academic year. As this year is being taken as a “transition”, the summer period will be shorter than usual.
The lead-up to Freshers’ Week for student societies and sports clubs is busy, with promotional material being prepared, sponsorship deals being secured and events being finalised. The shorter summer period is likely to put pressure on students who are involved and could force some of them to alter their summer plans.
In the email, Morash told students that the information “may be useful in shaping your summer plans”.
In future years, the academic year will end earlier so that students will have longer time off during summer, Morash said.
Changes to the academic year structure are one of the biggest reforms students and staff can expect to see from the Trinity Education Project. The changes to the academic year structure, which will usher in Christmas exams, were approved by University Council in June 2016, with College’s Fellows voting in favour of the change in February.
The revised structure will establish a system of semesterised learning and assessment, in which a Christmas exam week will be introduced in addition to an exam week at the end of the academic year. Currently, annual undergraduate examinations can only be held in Trinity term, the third term of the academic year, which typically does not feature academic teaching.
The Trinity Education Project will eventually introduce a raft of dramatic reforms to undergraduate education. The latest set of reforms approved by University Council included an end to special examinations in 2018, as well as making supplemental exams available from first year to final year. Students can also expect final-year results to contribute to 70 per cent of an overall degree, ending years of inconsistency between schools and courses.
In the email to students, Morash did not say when the 2018/2019 academic year would end.
