UBC's first ever fall reading break starts this week

The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) first fall reading break takes place this week for the 2021-22 academic school year.

The idea of a fall reading break for the university has been considered on and off for several years. It became a reality after the UBC Vancouver Senate passed a motion brought forward by the Academic Policy Committee in June 2020.

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Dubbed as a “midterm break,” the three-day break will occur between November 10 and 12, aligning it with Remembrance Day.

According to the Academic Policy Committee, this allows for consistent timing without introducing a short week and maintains regular start dates for terms one and two of winter studies.

It also has the advantage of retaining the three-day study break that takes place between the end of classes and the start of exams.

Matthew Ramsay, Director of University Affairs at UBC, told Daily Hive that the most significant change noticed by students would be the compression of the final exam period to 12 days.

“The biggest shift for the university is allowing exams to be written on Sunday to accommodate the additional days of the break, which will obviously entail some Faculty and staff working on a Sunday,” he wrote in an email.

The motion also benefitted students by pushing back the deadline to add, drop, and withdraw from courses. Previously, the rules placed the withdrawal deadline for first-term courses around Thanksgiving.

It was argued, however, that at that point in the semester, “many students have not yet received feedback on their learning.”

The motion also benefits students by pushing back the deadline to add, drop, and withdraw from courses.

The current rules place the withdrawal deadline for first-term courses around Thanksgiving. The motion argues, however, that at that point in the semester, “many students have not yet received feedback on their learning.”

While most universities across Canada have different withdrawal dates, they’re all typically later than those of UBC. One-term courses now have an extended withdrawal date, pushed back by two weeks in the winter and one week in the summer.