‘Not about the money’: UNSW dumps controversial trimesters

The University of NSW will dump its controversial trimester system that allows students to complete their degrees faster and revert to a traditional academic calendar in a bid to give students a better on-campus experience.

Vice chancellor Attila Brungs said the message from 5000 students who provided feedback was they wanted to engage deeply in subjects and have more time for part-time work, internships and extracurricular activities.

It’s back to normal service at the University of NSW from 2028 when trimesters will be dumped and replaced with normal semesters.Credit: Louise Kennerley

“It’s not about the money, no, it’s about getting a really good student experience,” Brungs said of the decision to come into effect in 2028.

In 2019, the university and its then vice chancellor Ian Jacobs unleashed a firestorm of criticism for adopting the trimester model – which was decried as a shameless money-making exercise by students. Protests attended by about 1000 students erupted on campus while a social media account was set up called UNSW Cry-mesters, with the objective of getting the whole thing binned.

At the time, university bosses insisted trimesters would provide greater flexibility, give students the option of graduating earlier, and let the campus be used year-round. Students said it made them stressed, overworked and out of sync with other universities.

University of NSW vice chancellor Professor Attila Brungs.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The new academic calendar is a semester structure of two 12-week terms for the majority of undergraduate and postgraduate students, with a corresponding “aligned” six-term structure to support additional shorter courses. There will also be summer and winter terms, so students have the flexibility to graduate faster.

“One of the things that were challenging the trimester was the tight turnaround between each term. It was quite full on,” Brungs said.

“Students wanted more deep learning ... they wanted more time to do extracurricular activities during their time.”

The overhaul aligns with the university’s strategy, which has the stated purpose of progress for all and ensuring their degrees set them up for success in an increasingly automated world where artificial intelligence can perform routine tasks.

“How do I make sure my undergraduates are AI-proofed? The bulk the undergraduate students and bulk of the postgraduates, what they really want, particularly in today’s world, is longer, deeper learning time,” Brungs said.

Sofia Miranda, 19, said she did not mind trimesters, but Grace Spiteri, 20, was in favour of the traditional semester model.Credit: Louise Kennerley

While the decision to introduce trimesters caused a furore more than five years ago, Brungs said demand during that time has never been higher from both domestic and international students. The university has topped the Financial Review’s league tables for employability.

Grace Spiteri, 20, said she would prefer going back to semesters as there was only a two-week break between terms at the moment.

“You don’t get much of a breathing period before you have to go back to another class,” she said.

“I would prefer we go back because a lot of my high school friends and other friends are at UTS and they have the full term, our breaks never line up.”

Sofia Miranda, 19, said she did not mind trimesters but said the workload could be immense.

“The workload tends to be really big, especially the amount of reading we have to do,” she said.

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