Colleges still trying to do things by halves

ATTEMPTS TO introduce semesterisation into the Irish university sector have been only a qualified success so far. While UL, UCG and, most recently, DCU are all operating semesterised systems, UCD, by contrast, continues to have the same success as a spotty 15-year-old boy at a disco.

In UCC, meanwhile, semesterisation was very much on the agenda for the recent students' union sabbatical elections, following the decision by the university authorities to introduce full modularisation and a two-part academic year in 1998.

Semesterisation, for those unfamiliar with such matters, is the division of the academic year into two equal periods, called semesters. Semesterisation's "fellow-traveller" is modularisation, the division of a subject into components or modules. A certain number of modules are taken each semester and are examined at the end of the semester.

From 1998-99, UCC is to modularise its courses to bring them in line with the European Credit Transfer System, which allows students to move between participating institutions during their academic career.

"We are not going to fully semesterise, which means having exams in the middle of the year" says Professor Paul Giller of UCC, who has served on two university committees which have examined the subject. "What we are doing is fully modularising."

At present, most courses in UCC are structured on a modular basis, but the structure varies. From 1998 all courses will consist of 12 modules annually, corresponding to 60 credits under the ECTS. The university will not be semesterising, according to Giller, though effectively there will be a two-unit academic year in place instead of the traditional three terms.

Depending on where one stands on the semesterisation debate, this is either an admirable compromise on the road to full semesterisation or it is semesterisation in all but name.

"The vibes people have been getting from the UK on semesterisation have not been good," Giller says. The fears, based on the British experience, include increased examining and the breaking down of subjects into units at the expense of cohesion and educational development. The result, according to critics, is the creation of a "supermarket-type" examination system, where "everything gets packaged, examined and then stored away in a drawer," as Giller puts it.

"It's a very divisive to" he says. "It was basically felt that it was difficult enough to get people in various places to agree on the value of modularistion and get some standardisation of structures."

STUDENT OPPOSITION to semesteristion in UCC is based mainly on a refusal to countenance two sets of examinations annually. Supporters of semesterisation and modularisation argue that two sets of examinations each year reduce the pressure surrounding the single set of examinations traditionally taken in the summer.

Semesterisation, they argue, also allows greater flexibility to students who wish to travel to other institutions for some of their studies.

Opponents argue that only someone who doesn't have to sit examinations would say that doubling the number of examinations halves the pressure; also, people have managed to travel to other institutions under ERASMUS for a decade without encountering significant difficulties.

"A lot of students have seen semesterisation introduced in other universities and they are generally against it," says Johnny Coffey, deputy president and education officer-elect of UCC students' union. He believes exams at Christmas and summmer, if introduced, would harm student organisations and would prove highly unpopular with students. "I think a lot of students, especially among the clubs and societies, would be against it."

Elsewhere, semesterisation has largely fallen by the wayside in TCD, due to huge staff and student" opposition, while UCD's college authorities mismanaged attempts to introduce it last year and have been reduced to bringing in a semesterised calendar without the accompanying semesterisation.

Last week, fuel was added to the fire when the UCD authorities were accused of putting commercial interests before student interests - by adjusting the 1997-98 academic calendar to allow a conference to take place. Semesterised commerce students will now to sit their exams after Christmas instead of before Christmas, the option favoured by 95 per cent of semesterised students in the college.

About 2,000 students of commerce and related disciplines will be affected by the decision. According to UCD education officer Cormac Moore, the students are "annoyed and disgusted".

In response, UCD registrar Dr Caroline Hussey says the college has been committed to the conference for two years, and students have been involved in all semester committees.

Elsewhere in the university community Maynooth is not semesterised, but UCG and UL are.

The only successful recent attempt to introduce semesterisation has been in DCU, which began semesterising in this academic year.