2024/2025 Academic Year
From 2024/25 the university teaching year is moving to a semester structure. Read more on semesterisation and the changes we have made to improve course delivery from September with the Portfolio Review Project.
The following dates outline the new semester structure for September 2024/25 onwards, see more detail by week. Please see below exceptions to the calendar for Postgraduate students.
Semester |
Start date |
End date |
| Welcome | 23 September 2024 |
27 September 2024 |
| Semester 1 |
30 September 2024 | 07 February 2025 |
| Semester 2 | 10 February 2025 | 13 June 2025 |
Vacation periods |
Start date |
End date |
| Christmas vacation | 23 December 2024 | 17 January 2025 |
| Spring vacation |
31 March 2025 |
18 April 2025 |
| Summer vacation |
16 June 2025 |
28 September 2025 |
|
University closure days* |
Start date | End date |
| Christmas closure | 23 December 2024 | 03 January 2025 |
| Spring closure | 17 April 2025 | 21 April 2025 |
| May bank holiday | 05 May 2025 | |
| Spring bank holiday | 26 May 2025 | |
| Summer bank holiday | 25 August 2025 | |
| Christmas closure | 23 December 2025 | 02 January 2026 |
* campus services may be operating different opening times, please check the student app for the latest news.
2025/2026 Academic Year
Semester |
Start date |
End date |
| Welcome | 22 September 2025 |
26 September 2025 |
| Semester 1 |
29 September 2025 | 06 February 2026 |
| Semester 2 | 09 February 2026 | 12 June 2026 |
Vacation periods |
Start date |
End date |
| Christmas vacation | 22 December 2025 | 16 January 2026 |
| Easter vacation |
30 March 2026 |
17 April 2026 |
| Summer vacation |
15 June 2026 |
18 September 2026 |
Exceptions for postgraduate students
Students on full-time postgraduate taught courses starting in either September or February do not have a Summer vacation period. Therefore, your teaching commences from the start of semester 2 and continues until your official course end date, as per your certificate of enrolment. Postgraduate students may have teaching, assessment activities and/or a dissertation project taking place during the summer and are therefore considered to be in semester-time* throughout this period.
* For Student visa holders. By ’semester-time’ (the Home Office refers to this as ‘term-time’ as part of your Student visa conditions), we mean the official semester periods when you are expected to be on campus engaging with your programme. For all students, this is semester 1 and semester 2. For Postgraduate taught students this also includes the summer period from the end of semester 2 until your official course end date as stated on your certificate of enrolment.
Research students on full-time postgraduate research courses are required to be in continuous attendance. Annual leave must be requested and authorised in line with the PGR Holiday Request process.
If you hold a Student visa to study in the UK, you are expected to be in the UK and attending all on campus activities during each Semester. All study must be undertaken inside the UK, this includes online exams, and working on/submitting assessments and dissertations.
Week 6 of each semester is sometimes referred to as 'Reading Week', please check with your academic school if this is the case for your programme. You are still considered to be in semester-time during this week
Some programmes have start and end dates outside of the standard Academic Calendar. Details of these will be included in your programme-specific information.
International students who require further clarification and guidance around their specific vacation periods can access: