The university has entered the summer vacation time. After a neat and uniform spring semester, the length of summer vacation time and the "relaxation" of college students are very different.
Southern University of Science and Technology and Jiangyang Urban Construction Vocational College in Luzhou, Sichuan Province, spent 77 days this summer, ranking among the best in the country. The summer vacation at Peking University is also up to 70 days long.
The 21st Century Business Herald reporter combed and found that many colleges and universities are on holiday in mid-July, the end of August or the beginning of September, and most of the colleges and universities have 40-55 days of summer vacation. For example, the University of International Business and Economics, Nankai University, Shandong University, Beijing Normal University and other holidays are about 55 days.
During the long summer vacation, students have the space to arrange their own learning or social practice, but there are also colleges and universities that choose to provide students with a "small semester" - these colleges and universities implement a three-semester system of spring, summer and autumn.
The first 6 weeks of the summer vacation of Southern University of Science and Technology are summer semesters, and after the summer vacation of Peking University began on July 5, the summer school opened on the same day and lasted until August 8, and Tsinghua University combined the summer semester and summer vacation to arrange a total of 11 weeks.
Because of the short time, the summer semester is habitually called "small semester" by college students, and the "small semester" settings of different universities are different, some require students to take compulsory courses, some are only electives, some emphasize practicality, and some focus on international courses. How adaptable is this system that was first brought into line with American colleges and universities in China?
<h4>Different "small semester" arrangements</h4>
The 21st Century Business Herald reporter combed and found that the summer vacation of various colleges and universities this year did not change significantly from before the epidemic, and the length of time only fluctuated in about one to two weeks.
Some colleges and universities have postponed the start of the summer vacation this spring, so the start of the summer vacation has been postponed accordingly. Fudan University delayed teaching for two weeks last year due to the epidemic, so the summer vacation time was delayed by two weeks. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beijing Normal University, Southwest University, etc. have also increased their summer vacation by 7-10 days this year compared with last year due to the epidemic.
Tsinghua University's "Xiti" ultra-short summer vacation. The academic calendar shows that the summer vacation of graduate students participating in social practice lasts only 4 weeks from August 9 to September 12. There are reports that Tsinghua University only has 34 days of summer vacation, while the summer vacation of Peking University next door is as long as 70 days.
In fact, a number of Tsinghua University students told 21st Century Business Herald that Tsinghua's school calendar was misread.
The summer vacation of undergraduate students at Tsinghua University is linked to the summer semester, from June 28 to September 12, up to 11 weeks, graduate students do not have a summer semester, but from June 28 to August 8 arranged social practice.
Chen Lan (pseudonym), a student at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management, said: "In fact, Tsinghua will be on holiday around the end of June. However, the teaching content of the 'small semester' varies from college to college, and the teaching time also varies, generally 1 month. The school calendar only covers the 'small semesters' of different colleges in general, and in fact, Tsinghua's summer vacation can reach two months. ”
The summer semesters of different colleges of Tsinghua University are arranged at different times. Some colleges enter the summer semester immediately after the exams at the end of June, some colleges start the summer semester during the summer vacation, and some colleges start the summer semester in August and do not finish until the start of the fall semester.
The summer semester at Beijing Forestry University is held from July 12 to 23. Qiu Hui (pseudonym), a junior at Beijing Forestry University, said that the school stipulates that during the first year to the third year, three credits need to be obtained in the summer semester, and she did not sign up for this year's summer semester because she had completed the credits in the previous two years.
However, some students said that they were "in a hurry", and due to the suspension of the summer semester due to the epidemic in 2020, the registration for this summer semester was particularly sought-after. "The summer semester course is divided into two types of classes, large classes of 180 people, small classes of 20-30 people, this year's popular courses such as "College Students Etiquette cultivation and eloquence skills", the capacity of only 180 people, but attracted nearly 4,000 candidates." She said.
Some students sighed that choosing courses in the summer semester is like buying lottery tickets. However, in view of the special situation of the epidemic, some colleges have reduced the credit requirement to 1.5 credits. Qiu Hui said.
<h4>Why set up a "small semester"</h4>
In most people's minds, college students, like primary and secondary school students, only have two semesters in the spring and autumn each academic year, so why set up a third semester?
"Under the two-semester system, the lengthy semester, the large number of hours of course hours, and the length of the learning front are not conducive to talent training and teacher training." A university registrar staff member said.
The more immediate reason is that the three-semester system is implemented in order to connect with foreign universities. The summer semester has a history of nearly 100 years. During World War II, in order to cope with the needs of the war, Harvard University began to implement a three-semester system, and the summer semester came into being. With the rise of the third scientific and technological revolution, the number of young people of school age requiring higher education has surged, and universities in Western countries have gradually tried the three-semester system and set up summer semesters.
By integrating with the three-semester system, domestic colleges and universities can achieve "please come in and go out": invite foreign scholars to lecture in China in the summer semester, and organize domestic students to conduct short-term overseas study visits.
"Professors from foreign universities often arrange to study abroad in the summer semester, and if domestic colleges and universities do not implement a three-semester system, it will seriously hinder the invitation of foreign professors to teach domestic students." The above-mentioned staff told 21st Century Business Herald.
Qiu Hui said that Beijing Forestry University has opened a total of 57 courses in the summer semester this year, with a total of 132 teachers at or above the associate professor level, including 32 foreign professors, but due to the epidemic, all of this year's international courses have been opened online.
Peking University in 2004 in China to open the first summer school, adhering to the concept of open teaching, Peking University Summer School not only serves Peking University students, but also provides courses for domestic and foreign students, middle school students, and social people. In 2009, Peking University also pioneered the establishment of an international summer school, which is taught in English and attracts students from world-class universities to China for cultural exchanges.
Among the courses of Peking University Summer School, some are compulsory courses in the undergraduate teaching plan of Peking University, which are only open to peking university undergraduates, some are special courses of Peking University, which are open to students and outsiders, and some advanced lecture courses are also open to outsiders.
However, unlike Tsinghua University and Beijing Forestry University, which require each student to complete a certain number of summer semester credits, although the credits of all courses in the summer school are counted into the total credits of undergraduate students at Peking University, whether to take the summer school courses is the student's "optional action".
<h4>A big bonus for a short semester</h4>
The strong practical nature is another distinctive feature of the summer semester curriculum.
Chen Lan, a student at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, introduced that the summer vacation course of the School of Economics and Management is mainly in the two directions of academic training and enterprise practice. The main way of academic training is to be an assistant to a professor's research project, while corporate practice is an internship.
Computer science students will devote this time period to 1-2 computer languages and practice by writing a lot of code. The electronic information major will have some experimental classes and technical courses that cannot be stuffed into the college schedule.
Engineering majors are also very practice-oriented, tsinghua university students introduced, they will participate in metalworking internships, familiar with a variety of parts processing equipment and some cutting-edge manufacturing technology, such as lathes, milling machines and 3D printing, as well as electrician internships. But most internships require students to find themselves.
Due to the general short summer semester, students often choose 1 course, and the maximum number of courses is not more than 3. For example, the courses of Peking University Summer School have a one-week system (four hours a day), a two-week system (two hours a day), a four-week system and other forms.
"There is no audition session in the summer semester course, and after the course selection is over, you cannot withdraw from the supplementary election, which requires students to think more carefully before choosing a course." Qiu Hui said.
However, short, compact learning also has a positive effect. Qiu Hui said: "The summer semester course is more similar to project-based learning, in the short course, all the energy is invested in one project, the effect will be better." If it is placed in the spring and autumn semesters, the pressure of coursework is very heavy, which may affect the project learning. ”
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