Semesters

An academic term (or simply "term") is a portion of an academic year, the time during which an educational institution holds classes. The schedules adopted vary widely.

The word quadmester or quadrimester is occasionally used to mean either four months or (more commonly in modern American usage) a quarter of a year. In countries like Argentina, public universities divide the academic year into two quadrimesters (March–July and August–December).

In most countries, the academic year begins in late summer or early autumn and ends during the following spring or summer. In Northern Hemisphere countries, this means that the academic year lasts from August, September, or October to May, June, or July. In Southern Hemisphere countries, the academic year aligns with the calendar year, lasting from February or March to November or December. The summer may or may not be part of the term system.

In most of Australia, the primary and secondary school year lasts approximately 200 days, from late January or early February to early or mid-December, and is split into four terms:

Terms 4&1 (rolled over) and 2&3 are respectively usually deemed 'summer' and 'winter' respectively for purposes of sports participation and uniform standards. Australian states and territories vary their approach to Easter when determining the dates for the holiday at the end of Term 1.

The exact dates vary from year to year, as well as between states, and for public and private school. In Tasmania until and including 2012, the school year was split into three terms, the first one being the longest and including an extended Easter holiday (which was also the practice of mainland Australia until the mid-1980s). However, in 2013 Tasmania introduced a four-term year, to conform to the rest of the country. There is typically a break of two weeks mid-semester (i.e. after Term 1 and after Term 3) and a break of three weeks in the middle of the year, although this can vary between jurisdictions. In the year 2000, due to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the state of New South Wales extended the break after Term 3 to three weeks, compensating by reducing the break in the middle of the year to two weeks.

Most Australian universities have two semesters a year, but Bond University, Deakin University, CQUniversity and the University of Canberra have three trimesters. Unusually, Macquarie University officially uses the word "session" and CQUniversity uses the word "term" in place of "semester". Many universities offer an optional short summer semester. One recent innovation in Australian higher education has been the establishment of the fully distance–online Open Universities Australia (formerly Open Learning Australia) that offers continuous study opportunities of individual units of study (what are called courses in North America) that can lead to full degree qualifications.

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