FOR most third-level students, excluding those who are masochistic, one set of exams each year is probably one set too many. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the gradual introduction of two sets of exams into the college equation, in the form of semester examinations, has evoked mixed feelings among students.
From a student point of view, semester exams represent one of the major disadvantages of a semesterised system. In a nutshell, semesterisation involves the division of the academic year into two equal "semesters", usually of 15 weeks each, instead of the three-term structure common in most colleges. Courses are divided into modules - or subjects - and a certain number of modules have to be successfully completed to obtain a qualification. Students are examined twice during the year, once after Christmas and once at the start of the summer.
Supporters of semesterisation argue that two sets of exams reduce the stress of a single set of "end-of-year exams and that a semesterised/modularised system enables students to transfer easily between their parent academic institution and other institutions outside the State. Opponents point out that: (a) exams are exams and having two sets effectively doubles the stress and (b) students are forced to study over Christmas, which adds to the stress by taking away leisure time or time that could be spent earning money to pay for the rest of the year in college.
Two Dublin colleges illustrate the conflicting views on semesterisation and modularisation in the Irish third-level sector and the difficulties of introducing a semesterised system at present.
DCU is about to end its first year as a semesterised institution. At present, only first year is semesterised but, as these students progress through the university, they will bring semesterisation with them.
According to Ciara Fitzpatrick, president of DCU students' union, the implementation of semesterisation has gone "quite well" but its effect on student life appears to have been damaging and responses have been mixed. "Some people think it's a great idea, getting a whole set of exams out of the way, she says, "but saying that, it does seem to have moved the whole thing of end of year pressure on to Christmas as well. I don't think it has reduced the pressure."
Semester exams also appear to have taken their toll on student social life, including participation in clubs, societies and the students' union. "It seems that a lot of people got a bit of a shock at the exams, says Fitzpatrick. "The social life in the college - and I don't just mean the bar - was very, very active at the start of the year. People were getting involved, joining clubs and societies and taking part an awful lot.
"After the semester exams, things seemed to dwindle off an awful lot."
DCU is one of only three semesterised universities in the State. UCG and UL are also semesterised, although UCG only operates a semesterised system from second year on. Students and staff in TCD knocked semesterisation on the head at the start of the 1990s and the issue is unlikely to come up again until some time in the next century. UCD botched the formal introduction of semesterisation, but has introduced a semesterised calendar, without exams, in most faculties, in preparation for its eventual transfer to a fully semesterised system.
UCC is taking the softly, softly approach by gradually introducing modularisation and a semesterised calendar, but not holding semester exams. Finally, the issue has arisen in Maynooth but no formal steps appear to have been taken as yet.
Outside the university sector, Tallaght is the only semesterised RTC, although Athlone is also known to be considering semesterisation.
Meanwhile the DIT recently shelved its experimental semesterisation programme in DIT Kevin Street, largely due to frustration at the lack of support from the DIT's central management. Semesterisation and modularisation are likely to return in some form to the DIT, but the passing of semesterisation for the present is not mourned by the students' union.
"Club and society life did effectively die here," says Colin Joyce, overall president of the DIT students' union. He points to last year's Christmas ball in DIT Kevin Street, the first since semesterisation was shelved. The ball attracted 1,000 students, compared with 300-400 under semesterisation.
Joyce says that some students felt that semesterisation worked well for them, but he believes that, in the broader sense of college as an education for life, semesterisation is unsuited to the Irish education system in the form practised in most colleges.
"It's very simple for me, but it's not simple for the college authorities and the teachers' unions. If you are going to have semester exams, you have to have them before Christmas. Christmas plays a huge part in Irish life. It's a week or fortnight of socialising - and I'm not just talking about going out, I'm talking about interacting with friends and family. That's crucial, particularly for first years who may have been away from their families. If you can't do that because you're up in your room studying, then you're going to feel very alienated."
Joyce's comments point to one of the principal difficulties in applying semesterisation - essentially a model derived from the US and European education systems - to an Irish context. Students in the US usually start their academic year at least one month before their Irish counterparts and it is therefore easy to schedule the first set of exams prior to Christmas. And Thanksgiving, a month before Christmas, is the crucial winter holiday there, anyway.
In Ireland, because our academic year starts later, this is virtually impossible. The result, arguably, is a system that doesn't fit, like trying to squeeze a size 46 bloke into a size 38 suit.
As Ciara Fitzpatrick suggests, semesterisation is simply "not conducive" to a full, rounded college education, one that combines study with a healthy social element. "It's one or the other for most people."
