By: Sheridan Kate Murray, foreign correspondent
From Feb. 12 to Feb. 16, the University of Glasgow conducted its reading week of the spring semester. Designed to give students time to complete important upcoming assignments, reading week entails a full academic week off from classes. Some Glasgow students may have multiple reading weeks throughout the semester, depending upon the discretion of course lecturers and seminar tutors.
Though breaks of this nature are common for the university, these sorts of amenities have struck me as unusual during my time here as an international student. Reading weeks are not the only structural differences between my abroad university and Wofford. Indeed, some Glasgow classes finish months before the semester even ends.
Jesse Catir, a junior from George Washington University, is enrolled in all five-week courses while here for the semester. When asked for her opinion on this unusually early finish, she says, “I am extremely excited. One of my main goals for studying abroad has been to travel more, and having that free time at the end of the semester will give me room to do just that.”
Another irregularity comes in the form of the University of Glasgow’s three-week spring break towards the end of the semester. While Wofford awards its students one week off during this time, classes for Glasgow are halted from March 26 to April 13.
This lengthy break is meant to give students time to revise and work on essays before finals. However, many study abroad students also use this time to travel and relax after rigorous weeks of instruction. For me, the break will entail a trip to Paris and Barcelona, and a weeklong visit from my parents as we explore Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
While these breaks may seem strange, they make logistical sense if one takes the grade breakdown of the university into account. Assignments at the University of Glasgow are few and far between, but they carry a considerable amount of weight. All of my classes give either only one exam, or an exam and an essay throughout the semester.
This means that in some cases, 100 percent of the semester grade may come from a single assignment. With that amount of value attached to a single essay or exam, the time given for studying and reflection is meant to be used wisely. While the academic environment is certainly different from Wofford’s, both institutions certainly take factors like time into consideration so students can make the grade.
