Academic Calendar Project update

Staff heard about the project’s progress and next steps at an online University-wide event on Monday 2 December.

Close to 2000 UNSW staff attended an online update on the progress of the Academic Calendar Project on Monday 2 December. Provost Professor Vlado Perkovic presented an overview of the project to date, key information on recent progress and an insight into upcoming steps. Along with Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience Professor Sarah Maddison, he answered questions from participants.

We encourage you to read themed questions and answers from the online update.

An overview and recent progress

The Academic Calendar Project Team has been working hard to identify feasible and future fit calendar options which also address the challenges of the current academic calendar. The Team continues to consult with colleagues from divisions, faculties and schools as this work progresses.  

Over the past nine months, the University has mapped, explored and analysed around 20 calendar options. This has been narrowed down to two calendar concepts for consideration – a calendar with three-core teaching terms and a calendar with two-core teaching terms. The Project Team is undertaking further work and engagement with stakeholders to investigate and refine both concepts to build two feasible options, taking into consideration a range of financial, non-financial and operational implications. 

“I’d like to thank the Academic Calendar Project Team, and all colleagues who are contributing to the Academic Calendar Project – this is a complex piece of work in a changing environment and your input is invaluable,” Provost Professor Vlado Perkovic said.  

“Your expertise and insights have shaped the models we’ve developed. I’d also like to thank colleagues involved in each of the supporting initiatives – these are incredibly important streams of improvement to our processes and systems.”  

The new calendar and implementation

The new calendar will need to balance a number of objectives, including: 

• alignment with UNSW’s strategic goals and priorities 
• ensuring an improved and excellent student and staff experience 
• support of innovative teaching and learning 
• being financially sustainable 
• optimisation of campus space 
• being future fit to adapt to a changing higher education landscape.  

The University expects to make a final decision on our new academic calendar in early 2025. 

The implementation of a new calendar will take time as UNSW prepares and enables people, systems, processes and policies to deliver the changes. To ensure a smooth transition, this will happen over the course of the next two to three years. The final timing of a calendar roll-out will depend on which calendar option the University decides on and the transformation required. 

No one calendar, irrespective of which option is implemented, will fully address the diverse needs of our University, and several supporting activities are underway to ensure the University’s success. These will tackle many of the key issues identified in the calendar review process – in particular, unsustainable workloads and administrative burden.  

The calendar agnostic supporting initiatives include: 

• assessment re-design
• program and course redesign 
• future campus planning  
• process and system improvement including the workload model review, special considerations uplift and admissions transformation. 

For more detail on the models, FAQs or to provide your feedback please visit our website.