University of Exeter - Term shift plan causes concern

Plans to change term dates are causing consternation among students at the University of Exeter, according to its student newspaper. The university plans to shorten the Christmas break from a month to two and a half weeks and to reduce leave at Easter by a week. Students will have an extended summer holiday instead, leaving their total teaching time unchanged. According to the student newspaper Exepose, students have complained that they were not consulted and that the change to terms of unequal length would make it difficult to manage loans and grants, would reduce work opportunities during the Christmas and Easter holidays and would give them less time to complete assignments in those breaks. A university spokesman said that Exeter was currently out of line with other universities and that its later finish in the summer had put graduates at a disadvantage in the job market. "It would also relieve pressure on the main summer assessment period, which has got busier and busier as the university has expanded," he said.