The New 2010 Academic Calendar
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is the University really ready to introduce this without adversely impacting students?
- Why introduce a new Model when there is nothing wrong with the current one?
- What are the principal features of the new model and how will it be introduced?
- Will school leavers be disadvantaged by this new model?
- Will CharlesSturtUniversity be out of step with other Australian universities?
- Have students and staff been consulted on the introduction of the Model?
- Won’t reducing sessions from 16 weeks to 14 weeks impact on the quality of student education?
- Will students have less contact with teaching staff?
- Will students be expected to spend more hours studying in a concentrated period affecting their outside commitments?
- Will allowing students to accelerate their study in some courses lower the reputation of Australian qualifications internationally?
- I understand there will be more than one calendar in 2010 – is this correct?
- Is the new calendar going to be the same as the current Trimester calendar?
- Will I start earlier or later in the year?
- Will I finish earlier in the year?
- Will the new calendar mean the CSU is out of alignment with other Australian University calendars?
- Do other Universities have 3 session-a-year calendars?
- Will students have a choice in the number of sessions to study per year?
- Will I have to study through the summer period?
- Will sessions be shorter under the new calendar?
- How will be the new Sessions compare with the previous semesters?
- Will subject content be reduced in line with the shorter session length?
- How will the new calendar affect my eligibility for income support from Centrelink (e.g. Youth Allowance, Austudy or ABSTUDY)?
- Will there still be a mid-session break for on-campus students?
- Will exams be changed?
- Will students continue to offer options such as Packages A and B for on-campus accommodation?
- I have heard lecturers are going to have one session off for research each year. Will that reduce the number of subjects available for students?
- I heard, the uni was looking at revising subject workloads because of the increased pressure and decreased time offered for students to complete subjects.
- Does the decrease in workload associated with this devalue your degree and are there any impacts on degrees which must be accredited by professional bodies?
- Will CSU degrees still meet accreditation standards if they are offered on a 3-session-a-year basis?
- How will compulsory practicum placements be conducted if the Session time is reduced?
- They keep saying we can all fast-track our degrees and yet it is up to the School's apparently to decide when to offer subjects, so what is the point of doing all of this?
- Are all courses going to be offered across 3 sessions?
- Why is there to be a separate calendar for international students – shouldn’t they study the same calendar as Australian students?
1. Is the University really ready to introduce this without adversely impacting students?
Yes. The University has conducted an assessment of all the issues, establishing a special project management group and hiring independent external consultants. Until a decision was made to adopt a definitive model, the University could not start detailed implementation planning. The University is confident, based upon its preliminary investigation, that all issues will be addressed for a successful implementation of the Unified Session Model in 2010.
2. Why introduce a new Model when there is nothing wrong with the current one?
The University currently has one of the most complicated academic calendars of any University, with multiple overlapping academic sessions. This arose over many years as Charles Sturt University tried to find better ways to deliver educational opportunity to students across 8 regional campuses, via distance education and internationally in over 6 countries. As a result, the current timetable is complicated to manage, inflexible for students and expensive to administer. This leaves students little flexibility and choice about the pace of study, reduces staff time to read and research and diverts funds away from teaching to administration. Students studying on-campus have sessions that are broken by a 3 week period to allow for distance mode students to attend residential schools. Distance students are struggling to maintain traditional study schedules in the face of increased work place pressures and there is demand from many students to be able to study single subjects over more sessions in a year.
3. What are the principal features of the new model and how will it be introduced?
The new model will standardise the start and finish dates of sessions across each mode of delivery: on-campus, distance and international. There will be allowance for different academic years for CSU programs delivered in other countries where needed. There will be three standard sessions. Sessions I and 2 will be 14 weeks in length with a 2 week mid-session break for residential schools plus a 2 week exam period. Session 3 (Summer) will be 12 weeks in length with a 1 week Christmas break plus a 1 week exam period. The range of subjects available over the new third session will gradually increase to give students greater flexibility and choice.
4. Will school leavers be disadvantaged by this new model?
No. This is about giving all students greater choice and flexibility over time about the pace of study in selected courses.
5. Will CharlesSturtUniversity be out of step with other Australian universities?
No. The majority of Australian universities are considering, or implementing, a three session model for all or some of their courses to expand student choice and flexibility including the Australian National University, Bond University, Southern Cross University, Deakin University, Griffith University, the University of Southern Queensland, Murdoch University, RMIT, Swinburne University, Curtin University, Sunshine Coast University.
6. Have students and staff been consulted on the introduction of the Model?
Yes. A number of discussion papers and reports were released to staff and students during 2007-08 and feedback sought. The reports were informed by a range of stakeholder meetings, written submissions and consultation sessions.
The University recognised that staff and student involvement and feedback was essential to the development of the model and set up a web site to keep them informed of its development. An electronic forum was established for student discussion and feedback. A survey of student attitudes to current calendar models and proposed changes was conducted. The Student Senate, as the independent voice of students was consulted and made submissions.
7. Won’t reducing sessions from 16 weeks to 14 weeks impact on the quality of student education?
No. The University will ensure that the quality of students’ education and their Teaching and Learning outcomes are maintained under the USM calendar.
8. Will students have less contact with teaching staff?
Contact hours differ across subjects and reflect different academic demands and the expectations of accrediting bodies. The University will continue to ensure that contact hours meet the same quality standards for academic preparation and professional accreditation.
9. Will students be expected to spend more hours studying in a concentrated period affecting their outside commitments?
The aim of the initiative is to provide improved balance for students to meet their various commitments. The number of hours each session students are expected to study will not change but will be spread over 14 weeks instead of 16 weeks for current semester calendar students. These students will have four additional weeks transferred to their non-study period during which they can meet outside commitments. Students currently studying under the three sessions a year trimester calendar will have two additional weeks added to their Sessions 1 and 2.
10. Will allowing students to accelerate their study in some courses lower the reputation of Australian qualifications internationally?
No. CSU, in line with other Australian universities who are offering accelerated study programs, will not reduce the content and quality of their current internationally recognised degree programs. CSU will continue to meet international expectations and standards.
11. I understand there will be more than one calendar in 2010 – is this correct?
Yes. There will be 2 calendars – one for Domestic programs offered in Australia and one designed for International programs offered on-campus in Northern Hemisphere countries.
12. Is the new calendar going to be the same as the current Trimester calendar?
No. The new Domestic Academic calendar is not the same as the current Trimester Calendar. The essential difference is that the current Trimester Calendar has an academic year that is contained within the calendar year (i.e. from January to December). The 2010 Academic calendar for Domestic programs will include a third session (replacing the existing Summer Semester) that runs over the Christmas – New Year period. The academic year for this Domestic Programs Calendar will run from March to February of the next year.
13. Will I start earlier or later in the year?
Session 1 will start on the 9th Monday of each year. This will normally be 1 week later than the current start date for Autumn Semester.
14. Will I finish earlier in the year?
Session 2 will finish 4 weeks earlier than the current Spring Semester finish date.
15. Will the new calendar mean the CSU is out of alignment with other Australian University calendars?
No. The 2010 Academic Calendar at CSU will bring CSU closer to other University calendars. Currently CSU has one of the longest Academic years. In particular CSU is one of the last to finishes its Spring Semester in the year.
16. Do other Universities have 3 session-a-year calendars?
Yes. Most Australian universities already have or are moving to introduce a similar academic calendar structure to the CSU 2010 Academic Calendar.
17. Will students have a choice in the number of sessions to study per year?
Yes. If a course is offered over 3 sessions a year, students will have the option to study for either 3 or 2 sessions a year. This provision is the same as for students who decide for whatever reason to restrict or take a Leave of Absence from study in any particular session.
18. Will I have to study through the summer period?
No. Current 3 session-a-year programs under the Trimester calendar allow students to vary the number of sessions they study a year via the Leave of Absence provision. This will continue to apply in 2010.
19. Will sessions be shorter under the new calendar?
Yes. The two main sessions (Session 1 and Session 2) will be 16 weeks in duration. This will replace the current main sessions (Autumn Semester and Spring Semesters) which are 18 weeks in duration.
20. How will be the new Sessions compare with the previous semesters?
The new sessions will comprise 12 weeks of on-campus teaching, 2 weeks of mid-session break (for residential schools) and 2 weeks for exams. The current semesters comprise 13 weeks of on-campus teaching, 3 weeks of mid-session break (for residential schools) and 2 weeks for exams.
21. Will subject content be reduced in line with the shorter session length?
No. Subject content will remain the same but recommended study schedules will be altered to accommodate the reduction of 1 week for on-campus classes.
22. How will the new calendar affect my eligibility for income support from Centrelink (e.g. Youth Allowance, Austudy or ABSTUDY)?
There should be no impact. Advice has been received from Centrelink that the existing rules will continue with a new provision to accommodate the 3rd session where applicable. To be eligible for payments students must meet full time study requirements. This is defined as a minimum of 75% of a normal full time study load for the year (6 subjects) which can be spread over 2 or 3 Sessions.
23. Will there still be a mid-session break for on-campus students?
Yes. However it will be 2 weeks instead of 3 weeks in duration.
24. Will exams be changed?
Not with respect to the normal timing and length of the examination period. However coinciding with the introduction of the 2010 Academic calendar, the University has decided to adopt a norm examination length of 2 hours. As a result many exams will revert to 2 hours except for cases where longer exams are required for reasons such as professional accreditation.
25. Will students continue to offer options such as Packages A and B for on-campus accommodation?
Yes. Details are yet to be released but it is anticipated the Division of Student Services will offer a number of accommodation packages for students with the new calendar
26. I have heard lecturers are going to have one session off for research each year. Will that reduce the number of subjects available for students?
Schools will allocate staff in a manner that delivers 2 teaching-intensive sessions and 1 research-intensive-session per year. Currently the majority of academic staff do not teach in the existing short Summer Semester. This will become the research intensive session for such staff if they are not required to teach in the new Summer Session. Staff allocated to teach in the Summer Session can be expected to have no formal teaching in another session.
27. I heard, the uni was looking at revising subject workloads because of the increased pressure and decreased time offered for students to complete subjects.
This is not correct however there is a Senate Working Party that has been considering what the standard workload should be for a CSU subject. It is independent of the Academic Calendar project.
28. Does the decrease in workload associated with this devalue your degree and are there any impacts on degrees which must be accredited by professional bodies?
No. There will be no decrease in workload for the degree
29. Will CSU degrees still meet accreditation standards if they are offered on a 3-session-a-year basis?
Yes. CSU degrees will continue to meet professional body accreditation standards.
30. How will compulsory practicum placements be conducted if the Session time is reduced?
The 2010 Academic Calendar will make it tighter to conduct practicum placements within the standard session times, especially within the reduced mid-session break. However it makes available more time for placements both before the beginning of Session 1 and after the end of Session 2. Faculties are expected to make the increased use of such time periods for practicum placements.
31. They keep saying we can all fast-track our degrees and yet it is up to the School's apparently to decide when to offer subjects, so what is the point of doing all of this?
The University has not said that students 'can all fast-track our degrees' – this was not the main objective of the new calendar project. The objective was a more efficient timing of teaching sessions to provide schools with more options to schedule teaching, placements, research and other activities in a better way.
32. Are all courses going to be offered across 3 sessions?
No. The Faculties will determine whether or not a course is going to be offered across 3 sessions a year. In 2010 only a few courses will include subject offerings over the Summer Session. These will gradually increase over time.
33. Why is there to be a separate calendar for international students – shouldn’t they study the same calendar as Australian students?
The International Programs Calendar is for CSU course delivered on-campus in Northern Hemisphere countries such as Canada and China. It aligns with Academic years in that part of the year (Start in beginning of August and finish at end of May with Summer Holidays in the June and July). International students studying on-campus in Australia will follow the Domestic Programs calendar.
Exceptions to this policy will be the ADPP courses on Goulburn campus and Studylink short duration subjects. They will use the International Programs Calendar, even though they are Australian based programs, to accommodate their special needs.