Some strap on a backpack and head to Europe, others enjoy carefree days at the beach. Increasingly, students use the time to work and boost the bank balance for the next academic year.
The three-month university summer break has been considered almost a rite of passage for students, regardless of how they choose to spend it. But an Australian university's decision to give students the option of studying three terms a year instead of two has met with controversy.
While students and staff have opposed Deakin University's new trimester system, some believe the move may prove attractive to international students and the trend appears to be spreading. Like most Australian universities, Deakin's academic year traditionally began in March and consisted of two semesters, plus a summer school. From last November, however, the university in the southern state of Victoria implemented three terms of 12 weeks' teaching to provide 'maximum flexibility for students'.
While not all units and courses are available in all trimesters, the university claims the new terms, which are one week shorter, will provide students with advantages, including the ability to start certain courses in any trimester, to complete a three-year bachelor's degree in two calendar years or a 12-unit master's degree in one calendar year or to use the third trimester to catch up on units disrupted by illness or other events. It stresses that studying in all trimesters is optional.
However, these have done little to persuade student Carly Gordyn and 1,300 fellow students who have joined the Facebook protest group entitled 'Deakin's Trimesters Are S**T!' Ms Gordyn says she created the group 'out of sheer frustration and anger'. Students are angry that the new terms do not include a study week before exams. Ms Gordyn says they now have more assignments due at the same time and believes lecturers have been forced to cut content to fit courses into the revised schedule. 'We're still paying the same amount but we're not getting the same education,' she said. '[Students] are not happy and they want their study week back. They feel that their grades are going down. They feel that it's a cash grab by Deakin.'
Ms Gordyn believes the trimester system was introduced to attract more lucrative international students who can start their studies at different times. This year more than 6,000 international students, including 494 from Hong Kong and more than 1,700 from the mainland, are studying through Deakin.