{"id":176131,"date":"2025-02-20T13:48:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=176131"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:42","slug":"shorter-academic-year-is-not-a-magic-wand-to-solve-workload-issues-but-it-will-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/02\/20\/shorter-academic-year-is-not-a-magic-wand-to-solve-workload-issues-but-it-will-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorter academic year is \u2018not a magic wand to solve workload issues, but it will help\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In September 2026, the Erasmus University will transition to a shorter academic year. The Erasmus School of Law will start a year earlier, this September. The aim is to reduce study and workload by giving students more time for self-study and lecturers more time for marking, class preparation and research.<\/p>\n

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The academic year at the Erasmus University is one of the longest in the Netherlands, which places considerable pressure on students and staff. Under the so-called \u2018Smarter Academic Year\u2019 initiative, lectures will be reduced to a maximum of 32 weeks. The change is intended to provide more breathing space for both students and lecturers. Project leader and dean of Erasmus School of Law Harri\u00ebt Schelhaas and educational adviser Eefje Markus explain what the change entails.<\/p>\n

What will the new academic year look like in practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Markus:<\/strong> \u201cThe lectures cannot start before the annual celebration of the Opening of the Academic Year, which usually takes place in the first week of September. There will then be a strict Christmas break of at least two weeks. That may sound obvious, but until now, students and lecturers have only had one week off. The academic year will then end in July at the latest. During the summer, there will be a guaranteed period of at least four weeks without classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schelhaas:<\/strong> \u201cTo give an example of the current situation: law students often have exams just before Christmas, sometimes even on 23 December. If I don\u2019t mark those exams during the Christmas break, I get into trouble later. So, I would spend the holiday frantically marking, so I could start teaching again on 2 January. As a lecturer, you\u2019re also busy marking for a large part of the summer, as resits are often scheduled at the end of July.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents currently can\u2019t plan their holidays in advance, because they often have exams just a few days before Christmas or in the middle of summer, with classes starting again almost immediately afterwards. It may still happen that exams are held just before Christmas, but after that, there will definitely be two weeks without any classes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Students have more freedom to plan their studies themselves and lecturers get more time for research and other academic work\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Won\u2019t this increase work pressure since everything is now packed into 32 weeks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schelhaas:<\/strong> \u201cNo, we\u2019re not simply cramming the same content from 40 weeks into 32 weeks, that wouldn\u2019t be possible. So we really have to think about what to include and what to leave out. What do we want students to take away from our classes? Should we assign more written assignments instead of exams to give them more flexibility? Should we offer more online teaching so students don\u2019t always have to be on campus?<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that if students are required to be on campus less often, it will significantly reduce stress. It gives them more freedom to plan their studies themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor lecturers, the reduced teaching weeks also provide more time for research and other academic work.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will you monitor whether work pressure will actually decrease?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schelhaas:<\/strong> \u201cMeasuring workload is, of course, quite difficult. We will continue discussions with various groups, from programme committees to student associations and individual students, to understand how they experience the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, this is a step towards reducing workload, but it\u2019s not a magic wand that will solve everything. However, it\u2019s a good start, and I truly believe it will help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Won\u2019t the quality of education suffer with fewer education weeks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Markus:<\/strong> \u201cNo, in fact, I think the opposite is true. Lectures will be delivered more effectively. With fewer teaching weeks, lecturers have to carefully consider both the format and content of their courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cLecture-free weeks don\u2019t mean students are free. These weeks are meant for self-study at their own pace, for exam preparation or for getting ahead in their coursework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018The shorter education period is just one aspect. We also structure the year in a way that reduces both workload and study pressure\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

The new structure is called the \u2018Smarter Academic Year\u2019. What makes it smart?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schelhaas:<\/strong> \u201cMost people focus on the shorter education period, but that\u2019s just one aspect. \u2018Smart\u2019 means structuring the year in a way that reduces both workload and study pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not reducing the number of credits students need to earn, so we\u2019re looking at smarter ways to organise the curriculum. For example, by offering more online teaching, students can still follow their courses without always needing to be on campus. Faculties could also collaborate more on courses, and we could introduce new assessment methods to reduce stress around exams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, it\u2019s not just about making the academic year shorter, we\u2019ve put a lot of thought into how it\u2019s structured.\u201d<\/p>\n

You mention collaboration between faculties, what will that look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Markus:<\/strong> \u201cFaculties are currently working on their plans, so we\u2019ll have to wait a bit longer for concrete examples.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Erasmus School of Law will be the first to implement the Smarter Academic Year this September. How will the faculty structure the year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schelhaas:<\/strong> \u201cWe used to have short five-week courses. That system was introduced in 2012 when we adopted problem-based learning. Those course blocks continued back-to-back for 40 weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we\u2019re moving to 32 teaching weeks, we have two options: either we cut courses \u2013 which we don\u2019t want to do, as every course is important \u2013 or we schedule two courses simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we will now offer two courses at the same time over eight weeks. This means the year will be divided into four periods of eight weeks. It\u2019s quite a big change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are advantages to studying a subject for eight weeks, as the knowledge is likely to stick better. At the same time, scheduling the courses is a challenge. When do you schedule the lectures for course A and course B? When do you run the seminars? We are currently working out those details carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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