Mid-semester break is an important time for every student. It provides essential rest from the onslaught of lectures, homework, quizzes, and assignments that never seem to end. It is a time for students to catch up with each other and go on outings they’ve been putting off in favor of class. Students who work can get some extra hours in to boost their savings.
But this semester the weeks have stretched and stretched. Seven, eight, nine weeks passed and students didn’t see any reprieve. Work piled up, assessments felt unmanageable, and work with less weighting was left to the wayside.
In comparison, the break in Semester 2 2023 occurred after Week 8. In Semester 1 this year, it was Week 7, a perfect half of the semester. When Week 9 finally rolled around, student fatigue was palpable as soon as you entered any third-space on campus.
Curious to gain some insight, Honi Soit braved campaigner-crowded thoroughfares and begged the question: how do students feel the lateness of this break has affected them and their studies?
Ezra (majoring in Physics and Theatre & Performance Studies): Most people I know have either broken down and taken a week off themselves in a time that’s good for them. It’s definitely taken a huge mental toll on people’s studying capabilities.
Fateh: I’m tired, its cold. At this point you just want to finish the last four weeks once the break is done so it feels pointless.
James: You get behind on lectures after mid-sem cause you’re so tired.
Lucy (Sem 1, Year 1): To be honest, I didn’t even know we had one of those until my mate asked me about it and I thought, “we should probably have one of those.”
Declan (Staff member): The Uni frames it as a ‘wellbeing week’, but there’s so much catching up for us and for the students. It actually ends up being a catch-up week for the students.
Benjamin (Environmental Science staff): I can’t attend important conferences that I need to be at in order to keep my knowledge up to date in my field, because I’m doing all this marking. So it’s hard to keep up with the scientific community.
Seri: It definitely hasn’t felt like an actual break, and it has made things harder. The point of the break is to have a rest and catch up on classes, and because it’s so late, it doesn’t feel like I can do that.
Dahlia: I’m tired. I’ve been skipping classes because I need a break.
Logan: I think it’s mismanagement and it tells the students that the Uni’s ‘mental health prioritisation’ is a performance. It shows they don’t actually care that students need a break. I know people who have been skipping class in earlier weeks because they can’t work. What’s the point in having it so late if people are going to take a break earlier in the semester anyway?
Art: I have 6 assignments this fortnight, all of them I took an extension for but I don’t have time because of class and labs. I usually do them in mid-sem.
Peter: I was hoping it was in Week 6 like last sem. Then it was perfectly timed but now it feels so late, and would have been better a few weeks ago.
Cam (majoring in Electrical Engineering): I’m falling behind on stuff, and looking to mid-sem to catch up but because it’s so far, that’s not realistic. Stuff is building up and I’m delegating to mid-sem. But the things that are due before then, I’m not sure how good they’ll be because I haven’t caught up on the knowledge.
Ajita & Daler: It’s been tiring. We have a lot of assignments and if the break was in Week 7 or 8 it would have been good. Having it earlier would have allowed everyone to catch up, and our exams are soon after the break so what’s the point.
After conducting these interviews (and prior to conducting them), one thing is clear: staff and students are not happy with this semester’s schedule. With many of these complaints echoing the same thing, it has to be asked: what was the University thinking?
Many more students who wished to remain entirely anonymous expressed extreme anguish about their inability to effectively study for in-class quizzes and hand-in assignments, that while relatively short, all add up to weigh a large amount in their course.
Students are also angry that their mental wellbeing isn’t being considered, and staff are tired of high marking volumes when the pay rates they can achieve for these volumes is not enough to justify it. Staff members that spoke to Honi also commented that students aren’t able to get the feedback they need on time because of the workload staff are faced with.
The late date was decided by the University’s academic board in 2021 with all semester dates determined years in advance.
When asked why the date was so late, a University spokesperson told Honi that “for many years we’ve scheduled the Semester 2 mid-semester break for the week before Labour Day, and the dates for this break are published on our website 12 months in advance.”
Because Semester 2 this year began a few days earlier, the spokesperson said, “while the mid-semester break falls at the usual time, it is very slightly later in the academic calendar.”
Something different needs to be done in future with the semester scheduling system. When it does, the University needs to take student health into account, and ensure that students aren’t being left behind, weeks prior to mid-sem break even beginning.
NB: where students provided their majors it has been listed. Names have been changed for anonymity.
