OT: Strange Gmail emails received

[Bob Eager]

At least one university round here uses the word 'semester' to refer to a period of teaching. It isn't that uncommon in the UK.

[Bob Eager]

[Daniel James]

Not necessarily, no ... but unusual enough, I think, that it should make one suspicious ... at least at first.

"Canterbury Christ Church University"? I thought I was looking at the page for an institution in New Zealand, for a moment! That's presumably a new university/former polytechnic ... it certainly isn't the University of Kent at Canterbury.

One counterexample doesn't mean that it's common.

[Robin]

Fill your boots:

[Bob Eager]

differ-

It's been around for quite a while now (14 years). Not as long as the University of Kent (there *is* no University of Kent 'at Canterbury', and there hasn't been for about 15 years), of course. Former teacher training college and all sorts, but they only adopted the term 'semester' recently. Was never a polytechnic, unusually. They had degree courses long before that, but UoK accredited them.

Also Loughborough, Exeter, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Hertfordshire, ...

[Chris]

Most (all?) universities in the UK now work to a semester timetable: 12 weeks of lectures, labs, etc then exams. There are two semesters a year.

See Edinburgh university as an example.