Academic Calendar

The ITI follows a trimester arrangement of the academic calendar, following the pattern of the great universities of medieval Christendom. Rather than dividing the year into two long semesters, with little or no correspondence to the great feasts of the sacred calendar, a trimester division allows the Church’s Liturgical Calendar to be the organising principle of our academic life, distinguishing our periods of study into Christmas, Easter and Pentecost Terms. Enabling the sacred rhythms of the Christian calendar to govern our academic rhythms fosters the integration of study and prayer that is so fundamental to the ITI’s particular approach to theological studies.

As practical experience of this more ancient practice testifies, there is a secondary, pedagogical benefit to this arrangement: the duration of three shorter, distinct terms (9 weeks of classes, one week of examinations) allows students and professors alike to sustain higher levels of concentration and energy throughout the term than is typically possible in the deployment of longer semesters.