The Oregon University System, through an ongoing study conducted by the Joint Boards of Education, is considering switching from the quarter system to semesters and will present its findings on Oct. 1 to the Oregon Legislature.
Senate Bill 442 was created in 2009 to determine if Oregon public universities should convert to semesters “to maximize opportunity and educational attainment for Oregonians across the state” and “support institutions in identifying and achieving cost savings to reduce tuition costs for Oregon’s students and to strengthen the entire Oregon University System,” according to the bill.
The bill ordered OUS to conduct a study, whose findings would be used in a legislature vote to recommend that OUS switch to semesters. The Oregon State Board of Higher Education makes the final vote to switch. There isn’t a deadline by which OUS must decide whether to switch to the semester system.
OUS has thus far determined the pros and cons of quarter and semester systems, and has an open survey for students and faculty members to take on its Web site, www.ous.edu.
According to OUS, some advantages of converting to the semester system include having more time to learn subjects in depth and for weaker students to learn, making it easier for credits to transfer to and from other universities, giving students more time to complete projects and study for finals, and getting more out of textbooks, most of which are written for semesters.
However, OUS found some advantages in retaining the current quarter system. Those include more people having double majors and minors; a variety of course options; a more ideal time frame for specialized courses; less time for students to fall behind and shorter breaks, which OUS says allow for a “better learning mind set” for the upcoming term.
An estimated cost of conversion is still being worked out by the Joint Boards of Education, Larry Galizio, OUS director of strategic planning, said.
“Senate Bill 442 contains a broad range of issues concerning post-secondary education in the state,” Galizio said. “Since it’s a fairly short bill, barely four pages in length, I would urge students to read the bill. And if they’re inspired to do so, they should consider contacting their elected representatives to voice their opinion on the bill’s provisions.”
Galizio said the Joint Boards of Education are continuing to collect and analyze data in order to prepare the final report for the legislature.
“I anticipate that the final report will include observations and recommendations concerning some of the advantages and disadvantages of semester conversion,” Galizio said.
Campuses across the nation found that it took two to four years for university systems to convert from quarters to semesters, Galizio said.

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