Under the semester system, the academic year is divided into two 15- or 16-week terms, normally consisting of a fall semester, running from late August or September through December, and a winter semester, normally running from January through early May. The standard one-semester course meets for three hours a week and appears on student transcripts as three credit hours. Courses with laboratory or studio components may involve award additional credit hours. Although universities on the semester system may offer courses in the summer, usually summer terms are not considered part of the normal academic year and summer offerings tend to be limited.
Under the quarter system, the academic year is divided into four 10-week terms or quarters. A full year of study consists of three quarters or 30 weeks of instruction. The summer term is considered an integral part of the academic year, although in practice fewer courses are offered and year-long courses, such as first and second year Spanish, are usually offered over fall, winter and spring quarters. Courses under the quarter system usually meet for four to five hours a week and thus count as four or five credit hours on student transcripts.
When a student transfers, the credits from a university on a quarter system to a university on a semester system, or vice versa, are adjusted according to the rules of the specific university systems. Credit transfers can be based on course equivalences or numeric conversions or some combination of the two. So, for example, if transfers are considered on a per course basis, a student who completed a one-quarter version of English 101, worth four quarter hours, who transferred to a university under the semester system, would be given credit equivalent to a one-semester version of English 101, which would be worth three semester hours. Credit hours can also be weighted in terms of number of hours in the classroom. Since a one-quarter course consists of approximately 40 to 45 hours of classroom instruction, and a one-semester course normally consists of 48 hours of classroom instruction, under a numerical conversion system, a quarter is the equivalent of 2.6 -- not 3 -- semester hours. Universities can use either of these systems -- or both -- for determining transfer credits.
Transfer credits applied to progress through a major are normally determined under departmental guidelines, which emphasize course equivalencies. However, total hours required for a degree usually follow university-wide guidelines and tend to use numeric credit hour conversions.
Students considering transferring between universities should examine individual university websites to see how conversions between quarter and semester credits will affect progress toward their degrees.
Countries outside the United States have a variety of different academic calendars. Many Canadian universities divide the year into two 12-week terms; thus the academic year normally begins the first week of September and ends in April. Many British universities have three terms of eight to 11 weeks with many of the older universities retaining distinctive schedules and names for their academic terms. Worldwide, many universities divide academic calendars into two or three terms with specific dates depending on local climate, religious or national holidays, and local or post-colonial traditions.