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Over the past 18 months with extensive input from students and staff, ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ has carefully evolved and redesigned its academic calendar to meet the changing needs of students, staff, and the broader education landscape. 

Our new flex-semester calendar will replace the current 3+ calendar in 2028. 

Our new flex-semester calendar is structured around two 12-week teaching periods (semesters), each with a mid-semester break to support student wellbeing and learning. In addition, it includes two six-week summer and winter terms, providing opportunities for accelerated study, catch-up courses and opportunities for experiential learning.

An important feature of our flex-semester is the hexamester overlay, which consists of six teaching periods per year aimed at increasing flexibility for lifelong learners and alumni and enhancing postgraduate offerings. While ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ already operates a hexamester calendar for ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ Online postgraduate programs, over time the alignment across the University will enable academics greater choice on course and curriculum design and provide students greater flexibility and alignment in the lifelong learning and postgraduate areas.

The transition to a flex-semester calendar aims to enhance the student learning experience, provide flexibility and choice, create more adaptable learning pathways, and strengthen ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ’s ability to meet industry and workforce needs. 

See a detailed view of the flex-semester calendar here.

When we introduced our 3+ calendar, the University experience was centred around physical campus space limitations and aligning with the northern hemisphere for in-person international learning. As the education sector evolves, so do student needs, learning preferences, and the role of universities to support lifelong learning. In line with our ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ Strategy: Progress for All, we remain focused on delivering accessible education, enhancing the student experience, building modern campus spaces to support the critical in-person learning, and offering choice and flexibility in how our students learn. Our new flex-semester calendar enables us to deliver tailored learning experiences for our diverse cohorts, provide enriched in-person learning for undergraduates, and support a pathway for our aspirations for growth in lifelong learning.

We aim to introduce our new calendar in 2028.  Implementation planning and alignment with broader University objectives is currently underway.

In the lead up to 2028, systems, processes and resources needed to implement our new academic calendar will be aligned with the broader initiatives already in progress to support the goals of our Strategy. This coordinated approach will ensure a well-planned, well-resourced transition that carefully considers workload pressures.

A semester is a main teaching period that includes 12 weeks of teaching, one-week mid-semester break, a one-week study vacation (Stuvac), and a two-week exam period. There are two semesters each year. Most programs will be delivered in a semester structure.

A hexamester is a shorter and more intensive teaching period that lasts for six weeks. Hexamesters occur six times per year. ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ currently has a hexamester model that is used for specific online postgraduate programs. These programs will continue to operate under the new calendar with improved alignment with semester terms.

Summer and winter terms are optional study periods to provide additional flexibility for academics and students. Each term lasts for six weeks, with the summer term at the start of the year before semester 1, and the winter term in the middle of the year between semester 1 and semester 2. While these terms are the same six-week duration as a hexamester term, they function as standalone optional study periods within the flex-semester calendar.

The decision was made after a long and involved process of consultation, development and evaluation with the ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ community – over 6,000 students and staff contributed. Initially, we explored multiple calendar options to determine the desired characteristics of an evolved calendar model. Two calendar options were selected for further consultation and evaluation – an optimised trimester and the new semester model (with the hexamester overlay) which we have chosen. Both models were considered against a complex range of factors, including alignment with strategic priorities, learning outcomes, student and staff experience, financial sustainability and operational feasibility. After weighing up these consideration factors, the University’s Leadership Team reached a decision which has been endorsed by the University’s Council.

Features of the calendar will evolve as we refine the implementation considerations to best support the ¹úÃñ²ÊƱ community. We remain committed to ongoing engagement and will keep you informed throughout this process.

Currently, some courses and programs, e.g., in Medicine & Health, operate on a bespoke calendar. These programs will not automatically transition to the new academic calendar. Scheduling for these programs will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis during implementation planning to determine the best approach.

While the calendar will continue to be refined, the mid-semester and winter breaks offer greater alignment with NSW school holidays and other domestic university schedules.

Consultation will continue throughout the detailed design and implementation stages of the project. We will work closely with the University community to ensure a smooth transition and address key considerations.

The Academic Calendar Project webpage includes a feedback page for anyone to ask questions or raise any further matters. To provide feedback complete the contact us form.

Several activities outside the scope of the Academic Calendar Project are in progress or in planning stages to help address issues around workload as well as teaching and learning. These include:

1. Transforming and reducing assessments
2. Program re-design
3. Future campus planning
4. Process and system improvement including the workload model review, special considerations uplift, and admissions transformation.

Combined Track staff have been considered and consulted as part of the process. The project team will continue working with staff to understand and implement required adjustments and minimise impacts to this cohort.

We will continue to update Combined Track staff throughout the detailed design and implementation stages of the project.

Education Focused staff have been considered and consulted as part of the process. The project team will continue working with staff to understand and implement required adjustments and minimise impacts to this cohort.

We will continue to update Education Focused staff throughout the detailed design and implementation stages of the project.