By Dylan Voyles and Madeleine Crabtree
Did you enjoy your last mid-semester break? Well, the university may have other plans for your next one.
It was revealed at ANUSA’s latest Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting that since July this year, ANU management had been consulting on a proposal to move mid-semester exams into the mid-semester break.
In a statement to Observer, the ANU said they had actually been consulting about this change since August. ANUSA was allegedly not brought into the discussion until early September.
A motion was passed at the meeting, calling for the ANU to “delay deciding this change” until students had been consulted, and “to examine alternatives” to replacing the mid-semester break with an exam period.
The ANUSA Education Committee (EdCom) has also launched a petition against the proposal, so far receiving over 1000 signatures. It labels the break as “well-deserved and vital” for students and staff, and states that “the absence of student consultation on a change of this scale is unacceptable”.
Observer spoke to ANUSA’s Education Officer, Aurora Neumann, to hear more about EdCom’s position on the matter. She suggested putting in-person exams in the teaching break could potentially have a “massive” impact on students.
“[S]o many of us use the break to return home […], to work in order to pay rent and survive, study or engage in intensive courses, or simply use the period as a mental health recuperation break,” she said.
Neumann also stated that this change would disproportionately impact low-socioeconomic status (low-SES) and regional, rural, and remote (RRR) students, as well as those who are parents or have other caring responsibilities.
EdCom’s petition notes the current justification for the university’s proposal is “a lack of venue availability to accommodate increasing demand for centrally supported mid-semester examinations, and a proposal to reduce the minimum enrolment threshold for central support from 100 to 20 students”.
Neumann recognised that “the rationale behind this move makes sense”, further stating that the current system for mid-semester exams is not working the way it should be, especially due to a rise in AI usage.
However, she also suggested there were many other avenues the ANU could explore. For example, one option could be “lengthening the mid-semester teaching break to three weeks, with the understanding the first of the three weeks remains dedicated to any in-person invigilated exams”. She invited students with alternative proposals to fill out ANUSA’s student survey on the matter.
Neumann also added that rather than ANUSA pushing to keep the university’s current system, “the problem lies in the lack of consultation and conversation with the group such a decision will impact most, especially when students could help workshop a better solution for all”.
Students did not learn about the proposed change until early Week 6 of semester 2, despite the ANU consulting on the matter since late July. Neumann labelled this “significantly disappointing,” adding that if the university had consulted ANUSA earlier, they would have been able to assist “with broad, meaningful, and informative student consultation to test the viability of the proposed change, work out gaps, and workshop solutions”.
“Instead, we are now left with two weeks to gather as much feedback as possible on a short and rushed timeframe.”
In response to the concerns raised, the ANU confirmed they are still in the consultation phase and emphasised that “[n]o final decision has been made” on the proposal.
According to the ANU, the move to reschedule exams is driven by “increased demand for supervised, centrally supported assessments and limited venue availability during teaching weeks”. The university says they aim to reduce reliance on evening exams and provide more consistent support for students who require exam adjustments.
The ANU also acknowledged the value of mid-semester breaks for students, stating that the university “recognises students value the non-teaching period to rest and catch up on study” and that feedback from students, including concerns raised by ANUSA, “will inform whether and how the proposal progresses”.
On the consultation, the ANU stated that engagement began with “relevant academic and operational areas”, before moving to student representatives and that further feedback is being sought before the program moves forward through the university’s governance process.
The ANU says several other options remain on the table, including keeping the present exam schedule or preserving more of the non-teaching period, with trade-offs for “student experience, venue availability and the University’s ability to provide consistent examination and accessibility support”, still being weighed.
More to come.
Graphics by Nur Aisyah
Know something we don’t know? Email news@anuobserver.org or use our anonymous tip submission.
If you have an issue with this article, or a correction to make, you can contact us at news@anuobserver.org, submit a formal dispute, or angry react the Facebook post.
If you don’t have an issue with this article and want to hear more from us, we’re in the process of making a newsletter! Sign up here, and have the latest news delivered directly to you.
Want to get involved? You can write articles, photograph, livestream or do web support. We’re also looking for someone to yell “extra!” outside Davey Lodge at 1AM. Apply today!
ANU Observer 