This just in – the University of Otago is planning to change our semesters from 13 weeks to 12 starting from 2027. The saved week will be used as what they’re calling a “reading week” for students.
It’s well known that Otago’s hick cousins, Lincoln and Canterbury University, both get three-week semester breaks. Up North, all five Universities (Vic, Waikato, Auckland, AUT, Massey) get two weeks. Otago students have always drawn the short straw on that front, but that’s all about to change. Sort of.
We won’t actually be blessed with an extra week of midsem break, but rather a “reading week”. The idea for this reading week seems to have stemmed from feedback given by students requesting time to integrate and strengthen their learning, as well as catch up on assessments. Despite saying that he was disappointed that it wasn’t an “actual break”, second year Accounting major, Will, seemed pleased to hear the news. “I think it’s a great idea,” he told Critic. “Lots of my papers seem to put tests on the week back from midsem break [...] I feel like I often end up using the entire break to study for those tests. So it’ll be good to hopefully have some extra time.”
When asked about whether students would have lectures or tutorials and whether teaching staff would be permitted to set due dates for assessments over reading weeks, James kept it mysterious, referencing the need to bring Otago University into line with other universities. “We are also responding to longstanding requests from students for a dedicated reading week to consolidate learning and catch up on assessments within the mid-semester break. More detail will come in [the] future.”
While now confirmed, the idea for the change first came on to Critic’s radar in April 2025. Around November of 2024, the proposal had been put to the University Senate, driven by concerns about special examinations, graduation timing, and StudyLink processing. While student misery about having such a measly break was not cited at the time as a driver, it seems the University may have heard our pleas.
While some details are yet to be fleshed out about how the reading week will operate, some students are concerned that lecturers will just reallocate work back into the rest of the semester. Third year Management student, Maria, told Critic that she hoped that it wouldn’t “just create more work for during teaching periods”, and that she hoped lecturers would find ways to deliver their content “efficiently” despite the shrink.
When approached with these concerns, James told Critic that the change would “require us to be thoughtful and strategic in how we adapt our papers to ensure academic standards are maintained within slightly fewer teaching weeks”, and that there was ongoing work to address this. Guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.
