What is a semester?
To define what a semester is in the simplest way possible, let us define what a school term is. A school term is the time in which schools hold or teach classes. In Kenya for instance, one year has got three terms, that is; term one (1), term two (2) and term three (3). Back to the question, a semester is a term that is used to refer to the teaching period/duration/time in universities or colleges within an academic year. In simple terms, it’s the ‘school’ term in universities or constituents colleges.

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What is an academic year?
An academic year is the period or time in which universities, colleges or schools are in session; that is the period in which students are actively learning.

How many semesters are there in a year in Kenya?
In Kenyan universities and constituent colleges, each academic year (one year of schooling in a university or a constituent college), there are two semesters. The length of each semester (university term) in Kenyan universities takes about three (3) to four (4) months. After the end of the first semester within a given academic year, students break for about a week or two before the start of the second semester in that academic year. At the end of the two semesters, students break for a long holiday before the start of the new academic year and the sequence of semesters in a new academic year begins. It is important to note that some universities have up to three (3) semesters in year. This is referred to as a trimester.

What is the difference between a semester and trimester?
In a university term or academic year, on average there are two semesters after which the current academic year ends. On the other hand, a trimester is a university academic year in which a full academic year has got three (3) semesters. Students who are enrolled in a trimester programme complete their studies faster than students enrolled in a two semester academic year pursuing the same programme (course).