Beginning in the fall semester of 2023, University of Delaware classes will be lengthened by five minutes. This change was approved by Faculty Senate last spring after then Provost Robin Morgan requested an extensive review of campus policies. The review was completed by a specially appointed working group, chaired by University Registrar Amanda Steele-Middleton.

The major change will be in the meeting patterns. Under the new schedule, classes will move from 50 minutes to 55 minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 75 minutes to 80 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The new meeting patterns can be found online here. 

UD has also updated faculty handbook policies that relate to the course scheduling and the academic calendar, to show that each regular semester (fall and spring) will normally be scheduled with 69 meeting days. These policies align with UD’s credit hour definition policy found in the academic catalog (which is unchanged and aligns with the federal credit hour definition, see “Credit Hour”).

The decision to change class lengths was made after a University assessment in preparation for reaccreditation. Steele-Middleton evaluated policies and practices in conjunction with recommendation of her first UD academic calendar.

The working group met during winter 2022 and spring 2022 to study the issue, research best practices, gather feedback and make a recommendation. Information about the changes were shared in campus meetings with key stakeholders. Meetings were held with the Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Assembly, and an open forum took place to solicit faculty feedback. 

In addition to changing the current class meeting patterns to ensure a consistent number of meeting days and instructional time, the University also reviewed the structure of the calendar, working to align the lengths of holidays and breaks for a consistent experience in each semester. Special sessions will continue to meet in an accelerated format, but the instructional time allotted to each course will remain consistent with fall and spring (this is typically scheduled as longer or more frequent class meetings over fewer weeks).

“The fall 2023 class schedule was published this week,” said Steele-Middleton. “Students are able to view the class schedule in WebReg or Courses Search. They may also notice another positive change in the class schedule. Descriptions for courses that have a special topic are now available in the detailed course section information in Courses Search.

“We will continue to review the calendar on an ongoing basis,” Steele-Middleton said.