The university, following feedback from Faculty teaching and timetabling groups, has made a small number of changes to the dates of academic year 2021/22, to provide additional time to welcome our new and returning students back to campus, and to prepare for the new term.

We believe that these changes to the published dates are essential to help us prepare for what will be our 3^rd Covid-compromised year.

The changes will allow for some flexibility in the timetable, should Schools/Departments require it, an enhanced Welcome offering and also bring a greater focus on the later part of the academic year which we hope will provide more opportunities for in-person teaching and learning.

The new 2021/22 academic year dates will be as follows:

Terms

Autumn Term: Monday 20 September (with teaching commencing on Monday 4 October) – Friday 17 December 2021

Spring Term: Monday 10 January 2022 – Friday 8 April 2022

Summer Term: Monday 2 May 2022 – Friday 17 June 2022

Semesters

Semester 1: Monday 4 October 2021 – Friday 28 January 2022

Semester 2: Monday 31 January 2022 – Friday 17 June 2022

Teaching in the Autumn term will begin on October 4. This will give us two weeks to provide students with a longer welcome period – the first week dedicated primarily to new starters and the second to help familiarise current students with any new health and safety rules or testing requirements. For both new and returning students, we believe that a dedicated period of induction or re-acclimatisation to campus life is essential given the experiences they will have all had over the previous 18 months.

The Spring term will remain as published and the Summer term will start a week earlier to make some extra time available for teaching and assessment, should it be required. The start date of Semester 2 has also changed to reflect this.

It should be noted that there will continue to be some non-standard start dates in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the School of Education due to course requirements.

It is important to stress that staff will be asked to deliver the same number of contact hours as previously planned, and there is no expectation of additional content provision. The modifications made are purely to facilitate delivering the curriculum should social distancing measures remain in place.  Additional weeks could be used for revision or enrichment in Schools/Departments who do not require this time for teaching.

We are aware, however, that these changes may cause additional work in the sequencing of teaching and/or practical sessions and assessments.

Unfortunately the course of the virus is a tricky one to predict and while acknowledging the additional staff workload that the changes may bring, we feel that this will provide greater benefits for all in the longer term. If you have concerns, please speak with your Head of School or Line Manager in the first instance.

Our hope is that we will be able to revert to the already published dates for 2022/23 onwards, with reinstated four-week Easter and Christmas vacation periods.