In our University, we are planning to change the programme of teaching from yearly base teaching (full year academic) to the semester system, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the semester system for teaching subjects to the students?
Hi Fathi, I don't know about pharmacy students specifically but here is what I have noticed about a semester based system. My institution has two 13 week semesters each year and courses are designed to last for one semester each. That means that students can potentially be exposed to 13 weeks of knowledge at a time. However, the first week is usually taken up with paperwork issues; week 7 has mid-term exams (which means that week 6 is taken up with some form of exam preparation) and week 13 has end of semester exams. This means out of 13 weeks there are only 9 'productive' weeks. This seems to me to be too little and students end up cramming rather than learning. So I would imagine that changing pharmacy students to a semester-based system would lead to more testing, more cramming and fewer authentic learning experiences. Semesterisation also tends to increase your paperwork as each semester there is some paperwork involved in running a class. I feel that better learning will occur if universities let classes run over the academic year. This will give students a chance to learn the material, process their learning, read the textbooks and establish a work-life balance.
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