When do Universities Start?

The academic year across the UK runs, in general, from 1 September to 31 August

However, many educational establishments run four official start dates in each academic year starting 1 September, 1 January, 1 April and 1 July. (A notable exception to this is the Open University which offers a more flexible approach to start dates.)

These basic/guideline dates are important for student loans and the like , but the date that universities start their teaching programmes in the UK varies with each university.

Most universities will refer to their academic year as the part during which they hold classes. This will typically be three terms:

Term 1 starting sometime in September, ending mid-December for the Christmas (Winter) break.

Term 2 starting back in January and ending in late March for the Easter break.

Term 3, the third (final) term starts around April after the Easter break and around June for the long summer break.

Different universities, and even different faculties and courses within them, will start on different dates, so it´s important for students to stay on top of course communications.

What is a Semester?

To confuse things further, a semester in the UK is one of two divisions in an academic year. (In other countries, including both the US and Germany, they are different divisions, but in the UK it´s often the actual year end that defines when one semester ends and a new one begins.)

UK universities thus usually run three terms across two semesters: semester one starts with the new academic year in September and runs to the end of the year; and semester two starts in January and runs until the end of term three, the start of the summer break.

Different term dates across the UK

Variation in term dates across the UK is huge. Terms of 11 or 12 weeks in some universities fall to just seven or eight in others, including Oxford and Cambridge which have notably short terms. (Most UK universities make up their 24 weeks of teaching with two 12-week semesters, whilst the Oxbridge universities and a few others make up their 24 weeks with three 8-week terms. In principle, this is designed to allow more in-depth academic research.)

At the beginning of 2024, Wales ran a consultation regarding education term times for schools, the structure of which has remained unchanged for 150 years. The results of this are awaited. It wouldn´t be unreasonable to imagine that if school terms adjust accordingly, Welsh university terms may also change in line.

Scottish degree programmes generally consist of four years of study rather than the standard three in most English/Welsh undergraduate programmes. This is intended to offer students a broader education and allow them to try a range of subjects before specialising.

A standard undergraduate degree (BA/BSc) in Northern Ireland, as in England, takes three years to complete full-time.

Longer degrees

Degrees in England generally take three years full-time study.

However, some courses, like those with a year abroad or a placement year, take four years. Medical subjects (medicine, dentistry or veterinary science, for example, take five or six years.

And degrees, naturally, will take longer if studied part-time.

Scotland´s (honours) degrees  - as noted above - take four years to complete.

However, whilst timings may change, the good news for students is that the academic study dates tend not to vary hugely.

Scotland´s Schools Start Sooner – but not their Universities

Scotland´s school students, including those in further education, tend to start back to school/college in August rather than September. Whilst that sounds like students are short-changed on holidays, this isn´t the case: they also finish sooner.

However, this earlier start is generally not the case for universities.

Conflicting Start Dates

Often communications from universities will refer to a start date of September 1 or thereabouts, and then talk about a course start date.

Where this happens, generally the early September date refers to the start of the academic year, whilst course start date is when teaching begins.

Induction Week/Freshers Week

Induction/Orientation Week is generally the first week of the first semester and is intended to help new students settle in/adjust to university life/orient them and give them the information they need to find their way around and adjust.

´Freshers´ is a term used to describe the ´newbies´ at university, leading to this week often being called Freshers Week.

Freshers’ Fairs are often held. These allow students to find out about activities both on and off campus related to courses and to social activities - student societies, sports clubs, even local part time jobs.

This week generally happens before teaching starts formally.

Over the course of the week, students are also likely to be asked to complete the registration process, to register with your department and obtain appropriate IDs to be able to access systems. You will almost always be sent information in advance telling you about the timings and about any documentation needed.

Education institutions that award degrees

Some establishments hold degree awarding powers [] but are not officially universities, colleges of the University of London, or university colleges.

These tend to be specialist and also run to their own timetables. These institutions  include:

Art, Drama and Music

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

ICMP Management

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art

National Film and Television School

Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance

Royal College of Music

Royal College of Art

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Royal Northern College of Music

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Executive and Business Education

Ashridge Executive Education

Hult International Business School

London Institute of Banking and Finance

London School of Management Limite

S P Jain

Multi Disciplinary

Blackpool and the Fylde College

London Interdisciplinary School

NCG (Newcastle College Group)

Warwickshire College

Religion

Presbyterian Theological Faculty, Ireland (Union Theological College)

Spurgeon's College

Technology and Engineering

Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology

Engineering and Design Institute, London

Multiverse Group Ltd

New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering

TEC Partnership

Others, vocational

College of Legal Practice

Norland College

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

For any of these institutions, good communications with the college are particularly important regarding start dates.

Postgraduate Courses

Postgraduate courses – masters degrees and the like – generally start in September and October as with undergraduate degrees, but there's a lot of variation, especially if studying abroad.

Whilst the UK university academic year runs from approximately September to June, giving master’s students the summer to prepare their dissertation. An increasing number of postgraduate programmes start in January.

Freshers’ week is still important if starting in September: it can help students balance work with play. It is also a good time to prepare reading lists, note essay deadlines, and to find out where any important lecturers are based (as well, of course, as finding study spots outside of home to stop you going stir crazy!).

PhDs (Doctorates)

Some Doctorates include taught elements, but PhD students are usually assessed on their independent research project, meaning that they are not bound by university semesters.

Therefore, whilst most PhD studentships begin in September or October for practical/funding reasons, in reality both funded and self-funded PhDs can be started at any time during the year.

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