What holidays do university have?

[Blueandsunny]

DD1 is in a gap year and will be off to uni in September. Just planning ahead as I want to go away for Christmas or new year next year to scape the winter blues.

Do your kids travel much with you after they go to uni? Do they need to revise in the holidays?

Since DD turned 17 we have been leaving her at home more alone as she needed to revise, she is also quite a home buddy, very happy when she has the house to herself; while I got wanderlust and want to be out exploring different places. DD1 is happy with one max 2 holidays a year which is what she did with us this year, one to South America and one to Greece.

Her term dates will be on the university's website now!

They vary, I was at Durham which had very long holidays, DH was at a London uni with much shorter ones. Check the university website.

In terms of teaching then it depends on the course. Some have exams before Xmas, some after Xmas, some have no exams until the spring. Most of the courses I teach on have coursework due end of December so our Xmas break is spent marking it.

One of mine always had loads of assignments to do over Christmas, often they have exams in Jan too. Similar at Easter. The website might have general exam period info as well as term dates.

Edited to add, between part time jobs, studying etc it's been hard to pin down dates for family holidays since the start of uni, they do still want to come but it has tended to be last minute and shorter breaks (UK/breaks to EU cities etc).

It varies a lot by uni and course. Some have a reading week mid semester, some break up early December, others have exams and deadlines until Christmas week and early in NY. You won’t know for sure until they start and exam dates not confirmed until November.

Thanks. Will have a look at the uni website. sounds like she may be quite busy with revision. She is doing an engineering degree too. She may manage one holiday with us in the summer depending on her own plans. They do grow quickly.

DD is spending two weeks of her Christmas break at home, as she has exams mid Jan and wants to get back to studying next week. She's also spent most days studying while she's been here, so even if not timetabled lectures, they aren't as free as they seem.

Unis do not have half term either and I am frequently seeing adult children from my classes disappearing with their families in October and February for a family holiday too. It's not good timing with our university.

But yes, dates are published in advance but your child will know what work they have on. Ours submit their work next week. In theory, they're not on their Xmas break then as they're assessment weeks but unless taking exams, most students won't be around until teaching starts later in January. It varies though. We're on semesters. Some do terms.

My dd did engineering. Her uni had short terms but she was very clear that the vacations weren’t ‘holidays’ - she took about a week off from studying/ revising during the Xmas and spring vacations but didn’t want to go away anywhere. Lovely to have her home though. And during the summer vacations most of her time was taken up with internships. She’d meant to have some time off for travelling in her third summer (4 year MEng) and a ski trip in her 4th year but unfortunately that was 2020/2021. We had one weeks uk holiday with her in the previous year, her first year internship was a rather brutal 13 weeks so we had a holiday where she was working and took her out at the weekends and dinners in the evening.

Term or semester dates are published several years ahead - check the university she's going to.

However, it's best to think of the Christmas & Easter breaks as "respite from scheduled lectures/seminars" rather than holidays. We always set work to be done over each break - it's a good time to allow students to reflect on the learning during term time (which can be hectic) in researching and writing their essays. My students have at least one (probably 2) 3,000 word essay to write over the Christmas break, due early January. Other students will have exams in the first week in January, before teaching starts again on 12th Jan.

Students are expected to be studying full-time during the academic year. This means work over the teaching breaks between terms or semesters.

Unis do not have half term either and I am frequently seeing adult children from my classes disappearing with their families in October and February for a family holiday too. It's not good timing with our university.

This is really unacceptable, in my view. If my students are absent for this non-excusable reason, it's marked as an absence, and 3 cumulative absences attract a welfare check and/or potential disciplinary action.

But many undergrads today don't work as hard as they should be working, I find - in my field at any rate. When I was an undergrad, we were expected to start the academic year with all our reading done in preparation for participation in seminars.

@ParmaVioletTea I think it's going to vary from uni to uni. I would generally mark it as unauthorised absence but I can't stop it. I frankly appreciate it if I get a heads up and a discussion from the student. Our attendance policy is very soft. There's no disciplinary action because of a lack of attendance. Just extra work from personal tutors making sure there are no issues and offering even more support. There are reporting protocols up the chain but managers do not want to kick anyone out because they're scared if retention data and the ofs. God it's exhausting.

Sounds like a lot of work. It looks they may only get the summer holidays to travel.

The better the uni the longer the holidays weirdly

She will likely need a job, being a student is expensive these days!

Depends on uni. Mine is at a uni with a 2 semester system. Her exams were before Xmas so no revision over the holidays. We are currently abroad as a family and did same last year. She worked abroad and travelled independently last summer but enjoys coming on holiday with us too (and we enjoy having her)
Not all unis or subjects have reading weeks

That is the type of uni I like. Holiday are for resting and recharging; but that is me who loves travelling. I am hoping we can still get some holidays with her while at uni.

Wasn’t on our radar as a plus but has suited her so well with hindsight. It’s a Scottish university they start modules in mid September, exams December and then all done. Start completely new modules January exams mid May.
Shes inherited our love of travel though.

Sounds like a lot of work.

And so it should be @Blueandsunny . University is for important learning and training, not a middle-class finishing school. And particularly in a field such as Engineering - we don't want brides collapsing !

And yes @Mumteedum it's exhausting. My discipline requires active participatory presence & attendance, but that principle is not supported by our systems, which are created by management who have either never taught, or last taught undergrads 20 years ago. Of course, my 40 years of teaching undergrads is of no significance in their eyes.

With engineering summer placements are common and useful for securing employment after uni.

Thank you all. We’ve better make the most of this year then that she is working part time and has a bit of time before she starts uni.

My uni was also 2 semesters but not in the UK. Not sure DD1 inherited our love for travel though. She loved Japan and also loves Greece. Maybe we overloaded her when she was little, 3 to 5 holidays a year, first long haul when she was 7 months; both DH and I are from different continents to Europe.

Our DC worked in every vacation o earn money. It never occurred to me to pay for them to have a holiday abroad, or anywhere else, We were paying for their education, In any case, they want to see their friends.

Some wedding dresses do seem to include cantilevered structures….
sorry, lovely typo.
But yes - STEM degrees, with appropriate amounts of summer internships should be pretty much equivalent to a full time job. (Tbh any degree which isn’t a lot of work is short-changing its students). DD, now a fully fledged full-time engineer has more leisure time now than when she was a student.

😎😎🤓. @ErrolTheDragon