It is hard to reconcile your critique of semesters with your admiration for top US universities. No one has demeaned my Massachusetts Institute of Technology education because it was organised in 15-week modules. Could the real problem be, as Stirling University vice-chancellor Colin Bell hints, that some universities have grafted a semester structure onto traditional calendar dates and assessment practices, resulting in a series of uneasy compromises?
Joel Gladstone
Director, International Education Middlesex University