Tis the season for studying: University workload over the holidays

It’s the lie that we all tell ourselves: we’ll spend the holidays catching up on lectures, revising, working on assignments, or even reading ahead for the next term. But after ten weeks of lectures and coursework, with everyone around you getting in the holiday spirit in December, it can be even harder to be productive. It begs the question – at what point can students have a break from university? Should universities even be allowed to set deadlines in the holidays?

At Warwick, the format of three ten-week terms means that deadlines during term time will almost always clash with teaching. As a history student myself, this often means that the content of the later weeks is more difficult to write on, and I end up choosing to write my essays on the earlier topics that we’ve already covered in seminars. Moving deadlines to the holidays would allow students to learn all the content of a module before tackling assignments and give us more choices in what we can research further. It would also mean that students are more engaged with the content in the later weeks, rather than choosing to focus on assignments over weekly reading.

University is not just about your coursework – it’s a time to explore other passions

The holiday workload is not just comprised of coursework – many students have exams in January or Term 3 after the Easter break. Exams are perhaps more difficult to schedule in a way that does not affect the workload set over the holidays. The amount of time you spend revising is a personal choice that students take, whether that’s to cram the night before, or review content repeatedly from the day that it is first taught until the final exam, or somewhere in between. Whilst students theoretically have more free time in the holidays to do work, this is not always the case.

Holiday deadlines impact students who work part-time disproportionately. A survey from 2023 indicates that 55% of students are working part-time jobs during their studies, with an average of 13.5 hours per week. This study does not necessarily distinguish between those who work in the holidays and those who also work in term-time, but part-time work is still important to consider in discussions around deadlines. Without parental support, most students would not be able to afford basic living costs without this extra income.

Deadlines set during the holidays affect those who work and continue to privilege those who do not need to work for extra income. The fact that the number of students working has increased rapidly because of the high cost of living means that this is something that universities should bear in mind when setting heavy workloads or large projects over the holidays. And it’s not just part-time work that increases student workload over the holidays. It’s an opportunity to work on the things that you didn’t have a chance to do during a busy term – including applications for internships, jobs, or other personal projects. University is not just about your coursework – it’s a time to explore other passions and set yourself up for a job after graduating, and the holidays should be free of workload to help achieve this. 

Setting work over the holidays puts a significant proportion of students at a disadvantage compared to their peers

Mental health among university students is also important to consider when it comes to university deadlines. A survey by Student Minds found that 57% of students self-reported a mental health problem, and 27% had a diagnosed mental health issue. The pressure of having to work through the holidays after a hectic term, and then come back for another busy term, can lead to burnout and high levels of stress. Universities should take some level of responsibility when it comes to students’ mental health, and alleviating the workload over the holidays could certainly help this. Many celebrate Christmas, New Year’s, Hannukah, or Eid during the Christmas or Easter break. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the holidays are a chance to spend time with your family and friends after a term away from home and shouldn’t be overshadowed by coursework or exams.

It shouldn’t be radical to argue that students deserve a proper break over the holidays from university work. Setting work over the holidays puts a significant proportion of students at a disadvantage compared to their peers. Students deserve to have time for other aspects of life that help with their personal development, whether that’s spending time with family, working a part-time job, applying for work experience, or pursuing a passion project. But we should also consider that a ten-week term is nowhere near long enough to adequately teach and assess content, particularly in a 15-CAT module. When looking at specific deadlines for courses, it might seem like deadlines during the holidays are the only way to cover all the content before an assessment is due. Holiday workload seems like an inevitable part of university life with the way that Warwick’s terms are structured, but changes to timetables might be able to strike a balance between covering content before an exam and allowing students to relax during the break.