Trent University’s campuses may be a little quieter during the summer, but classes are still buzzing in both Peterborough and Durham. As the next six-week summer term is about to start on June 22, students are set to explore all that summer courses have to offer at Trent.  

This is certainly true for Simon Flint, a third-year Biology major in Peterborough. Mr. Flint returned to his hometown of Oshawa for the summer, to work at his summer job and relax after a busy school year, but quickly realized he could make the most out of his time by taking a summer course at the Durham campus.

“I had the option to lighten my course load for next year,” Mr. Flint noted. “It is pretty convenient, I can take a Trent course while I am home for the summer. You don’t have to worry about courses transferring or anything like that from university to university, I could just take my elective in the months before my summer job began.”

Whether it is earning extra credits towards your degree at Trent or another university, getting a start on fall studies, or just learning something new and broadening your mind, summer courses at Trent give students the option to choose from almost 300 courses in over 30 disciplines in Peterborough, Durham and online.

This past session, students could take courses which varied from Love and Hate in Literature through the English Department to the Nazi Holocaust and Modern Culture through the History Department. Students could also take could take courses in Financial Accounting and Statistics.

Summer courses are offered as both full-credit and half-credit. Classes tend to be offered in two to three hour classes, but run twice a week for a shorter session, creating a unique learning opportunity to fully immerse yourself in a subject for that shortened period of time. Because of this class sizes are often bit smaller as well, students are able to build strong relationships with faculty and other students.  

As Dr. Joel Baetz, professor of English at Trent University Durham, states, “summer courses are a great chance for students to try out subjects or academic disciplines that they might not have time for during the year. It's great to have Psychology students and Chemistry students working alongside English students.”

Want to know more about summer courses at Trent? Take a look at what students have to say about the benefits of taking summer courses HERE