Blizzard warnings in Northwest Minnesota, winter weather advisories across the state

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

this week's piece on the proposal to convert the University of Minnesota to a year-round calendar.

I'll try to lay it out in the coming weeks as the U studies the idea more.

But for now, here are some quotes and bits I found interesting.

It was really tough finding a university that goes year-round. A lot have considered it, including George Washington University. Even though President Emeritus Stephen Trachtenberg advocated it -- including during a 2005 Congressional hearing on higher education -- he said faculty turned it down.

A number of colleges and programs are on a year-round calendar, and even the U has a number of abbreviated summer classes.

But the only university that I've heard about with a full-on summer session of equal length and importance is Brigham Young University - Idaho. (It's affiliated with BYU in Utah, but is a separate institution.)

Still, Larry Isaak, president of the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, says the idea is catching on. He told me:

Trachtenberg told me the calendar will help universities compete against their for-profit counterparts:

BYU spokesman Andy Cargal emphasized that's it's not a mandatory "trimester" program.

Although it has three equal semesters, students take only two. So they might not graduate sooner. But a more consistent flow of bodies throughout the year has decreased bottlenecks and enabled BYU to increase its enrollment by 50 percent.

And he says employers have warmed to the idea of hiring interns outside of the usual summer season. He said:

That sounds like it could be one of the true selling points of a new schedule.

 that found some colleges interested in exploring the matter further. Others, such as the Carlson School of Management, College of Law and the College of Science and Engineering, were indifferent or saw little benefit.

So far, faculty at the U seem open the idea -- even if they're not wild about it.

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

A lot of material couldn’t make it into this week’s piece on the proposal to convert the University of Minnesota to a year-round calendar. I’ll try to lay it out in the coming weeks as the U studies the idea more. But for now, here are some quotes and bits I found interesting. It was…

A few more tidbits on the UMN year-round calendar idea

Go Deeper.

Like this?