The organisation of the academic year differs from a school year in two relevant aspects:

• The university has a semester structure. The duration of your degree is counted in semesters, not years. This means that each semester represents a self-contained unit. During the semester, courses take place which I usually complete at the end of the semester. In the following semester, new courses start.
• The semester structure has an influence on my timetable. Unlike at school, where my classes are organised an annual basis, at university I get a new timetable every semester. Furthermore, I have to schedule my classes on my own, because there is no obligatory semester plan. 

How can I schedule my semester?

I take my curriculum, which specifies the structure of my degree programme. Then I have a look on the course directory of the upcoming semester, which is available online in u:find. This way, I will know when each course will take place. With this information at hand, I create my own semester schedule. 

At the one hand, I'm happy about this because I can organise my time freely. At the other hand, it requires some self organisation skills. At the beginning, the StudiesServiceCenter and StudiesServiceUnit or the students' representatives of the respective degree programme provide assistence in the scheduling of your classes.