An academic quarter (localized into various languages in the countries where it is practised) is the quarter-hour (15 minute) discrepancy between the defined start time for a

lecture A lecture (from ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theo ...

lesson A lesson or class is a structured period of time where learning is intended to occur. It involves one or more students (also called pupils or learners in some circumstances) being taught by a teacher or instructor. A lesson may be either one ...

("per schema") and the actual starting time, at some

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in most

European countries The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international reco ...

. The quarter system started in Sweden and dates back to the days when the ringing of the

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

was the general method of time keeping. When the bell rang on the hour, students had 15 minutes to get to the lecture. Thus a lecture with a defined start time of 10:00 would start at 10:15. Academic quarter exists to a varying extent in many universities, especially where the

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

is spread out over a larger area, necessitating the fifteen-minute delay for the students to walk from one building to another between classes. In the German university system, lectures scheduled at a certain hour, with or without the addition "c.t." (''cum tempore'', Latin for "with time"), usually start 15 minutes after the full hour. If this is not the case, usually "s.t." (''sine tempore'', Latin for "without time") is added to indicate that the lecture will begin at the exact time. In Polish the phrase ''kwadrans akademicki'' refers to an unspoken rule allowing students and lecturers to arrive up to 15 minutes late to a lecture; the students can skip the lecture without repercussions should the lecturer not arrive within that time. Similarly, the Greek phrase ''ακαδημαϊκό τέταρτο'' also refers to an unspoken rule that allows both lecturers and students to join the class with a delay of up to 15 minutes; no law is currently in place to formalize this practice which extends to the school system as well as many workplaces. In some institutions it is traditional for the lecturer to always arrive in class 15 minutes late to accommodate the students' potential delay.

Examples

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, the academic quarter was officially abolished in 1982 by Rector Martin H:son Holmdahl, and since then lectures are officially scheduled one quarter after the full hour, e.g. the scheduled starting time of morning lectures is 8:15. In the student social life at

and

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

, a ''double-quarter'' (Swedish: ''dubbelkvart (dk)'' or ''dq'') also exists. At Uppsala, it refers to the thirty minutes between the full hour and the official time when a banquet or other semi-official party or sit-down dinner starts. During this half-hour, guests mingle and make sure they know where their seats are. At

, times are commonly stated meaning ''single-quartered'' during daytime and ''doubly-quartered'' in the evening after 6 pm and on weekends. ''Double-quarter'' means that the event starts thirty minutes after the posted time. In the evening this extra quarter is to allow you to freshen up. Academic quarter only applies to time given in full hours, and the academic quarter can be removed by saying that the time is "on the dot" by adding the word "dot" ("prick" in Swedish) or an actual ".". E.g. 10 dot is 10:00. The dot removes one academic quarter, so in the evening time "on the dot" is written "dot dot" to remove both quarters. Time given with minutes, such as 10:00 is always "on the dot". At

KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a Public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in Institute of technology, engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest te ...

the academic quarter is applied to lectures but not to labs. At

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, classes generally start 10 minutes after the posted starting time. This is informally known as "Berkeley time". At the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

, classes generally start 15 minutes before or after the posted starting time or on the exact time, depending on the campus on which the classes take place. A similar tradition called Oxford time, with a different historical background, applies at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Notes

References

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