8 July 1997 Lincoln aligns teaching year with other universities

Lincoln University is to reduce the length of its teaching year from 26 to 24 weeks, bringing it into line with the majority of other New Zealand universities.

The change from a structure of two semesters of 13 weeks duration to two of 12 weeks will be phased in progressively but with no precise time yet set for a start.

When Lincoln's teaching year has study and field trip breaks, pre-examination study breaks and examination time added on, then the full academic year stretches out to 36 weeks, the longest of all the New Zealand universities. The others are in the range of 32, 33 and 34 weeks.

"Driving the reduction to two 12-week semesters is a shift in emphasis in our teaching from a process that is dominantly input-led to one that focuses on learning outcomes," said the University's Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Roger Field, speaking to the recommendation adopted at the July meeting of the University Council.

"There is a need to create a learning environment that is clearly focused on the outcomes of learning rather than being driven by input issues such as the number of lecture hours," he says.

Professor Field described Lincoln's current timetable as not easy for self-directed learning or part-time study.

Students' needs were changing, he said, and there was a growing demand for increased flexibility to cater for diverse learning styles and alternative study options. Reducing the semester length would provide for some of that flexibility.

Professor Field emphasised that the move was not about cramming 13 weeks of work into 12 weeks. That would be "totally unacceptable", he said. Teaching programmes would be adjusted and managed to make the new 12-week semesters self-contained in their own right.

Council member Brian Cameron described the move as a "revolution" and a "very important change" which opened up the vista of greater moves to self­-directed learning.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand