DCHP-2

intersession DCHP-2 (August 2016)

• n. — Education

  a short, intensive university term that takes place in the spring or summer, and that condenses 13 weeks of material into five or six weeks.

  COD-2 states that intersession means "a short university term, usu. in May and June" in which 13-week course content is studied in five or six weeks (see COD-2, s.v. "intersession" (1), which is marked "Cdn"). COD-2 lists a second meaning as "US", and defines it as "a short period between university terms, esp. in January". However both the supposed Canadian and US meanings are used in the US (see, e.g. the 2007 quotation from The New York Times in which it is clear that intersession refers to an intensive course in January). This can also be seen in the general, non-time related definitions in W-3, which defines the term as "a period between two academic sessions or terms sometimes utilized (as in an adult education program) for brief concentrated courses" and AHD-5, which uses the more concise "the time between two academic sessions or semesters".
  The earliest found citation dates to 1920, from the US Christian Science Monitor newspaper, and appears to refer to the supposedly Canadian meaning of a study period in May or June. Internet domain searches indicate that intersession is most prevalent in the US today and is much more rarely used in Canada (see Chart 1).

  • It appears that both meanings are found in the US and in Canada. In Canada, intersession has given way to terms such as "summer session" or the like to refer to the courses held in the spring (May or June) or in the summer (July and August).