Short Term Debate
Oxbridge term length is at the centre of debate as other universities claim that their teaching approach is more effective.
Terence Kealey, Vice-Chancellor of Buckingham University, the country's only non-state funded university, suggested in last week's Guardian that teaching a degree in two years with 40 weeks' teaching per year is a more efficient strategy than shorter university term lengths.
It is claimed that under this system the year is not interrupted by a long summer break and students are instead prepared to work intensively in an intimate environment with good student to staff ratios.
Not all directors, however, are convinced. Kevin Allison, Director of Undergraduate Studies at Westminster Business School, believes that the standard teaching figure of 24 weeks works well because students must additionally work independently.
In Oxford, student opinion is also mixed. A first-year History student agrees that terms are so intensive that they should not be lengthened; the holidays allow time to recover and to carry out independent work. However, a second-year English student told The OxStu that "If they were to give us a longer period to complete the same amount of work, the idea would work."
29th Jan 2004