Flexible Academic Calendar Project

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Flexible Academic Calendar Project

Flexible Academic Calendar Project

UniSQ’s innovative, new, flexible Academic Calendar focuses on how students' lifestyles are changing and how students access learning in the 21st century.

Our goal is to provide our students and staff with more contemporary approaches to how we deliver our courses and programs through a new, multi-layered Academic Calendar that is evidenced based and future focused. The model consists of five layers comprising trimesters, blocks, intensives, combination (blocks + sessions) and a year-long option, with key alignment points across all layers throughout each calendar year.

All teaching periods will be contained within a single calendar year from January to December. It will be implemented in a phased approach between January 2023 – January 2025. The existing UniSQ calendar format will run parallel to the new design throughout 2023-24, as programs prepare to move into one of the five layers.

The year 2022 will be all about planning, prioritisation and systems changes. January 2023 will see a range of programs move into one of the five layers. By January 2025, all programs will have transitioned into either the trimesters, blocks, intensives, combination or year-long layer.

The Flexible Academic Calendar Project has undertaken an extensive review and consultation process to learn about the elements that students and staff see as important in a new design. This included the length of teaching periods, options to speed up, slow down or temporarily pause program progression without significant impact on enrolment patterns, and the nature and timing of breaks.

Through the reimagining of the Academic Calendar, we want to ensure there is both equity and quality in the educational experience for our students and in teaching and research for our staff.

We want to provide students with learning periods that are flexible, and which meet their lifestyle and learning needs.

The multi-layered calendar design allows options for students to either speed up or slow down their program completion according to other life influences.

The current academic calendar model at UniSQ utilises a condensed teaching period for Semester 3, which interrupts school holidays over summer, and a significantly reduced number of course offerings in this third semester. This has been found to be a barrier to teaching quality, learning flexibility, and accelerated program completion.

Following extensive consultation with students and staff, the revised Academic Calendar will be ready for phased implementation from January 2023 to January 2025.

Further communications will be sent to staff and students throughout 2022 as we prepare for the transition. More information can be found at the (authentication required).