How to set up academic reference data
Years, semesters, departments, categories and tags — the lists everything else picks from.
Last updated 12 October 2026
What you will learn
- What each of the five tabs is for
- How to add an academic year
Academic setup holds the reference data the rest of the system chooses from. Setting it up once makes everything else tidier.
- Academic years
- A year such as 2025-2026. Exactly one year is current; promoting a year to current demotes the one that held it.
- Semesters
- Terms inside an academic year. A batch can be placed in one.
- Departments
- Faculties or schools. A course can belong to one.
- Categories
- A tree used to group courses. A course belongs to at most one category.
- Tags
- Free-form labels, independent of categories.
Add an academic year
Step 1. Click Academic setup in the left-hand menu.
Step 2. Stay on the Academic years tab.
Step 3. Type a Label, such as 2025-2026.
Step 4. Choose the Starts and Ends dates.
Step 5. Tick Make this the current year if it is the one running now.
Only one year can be current. Ticking this moves it from whichever year held it.
Step 6. Click Add year.
Tip
Semesters cannot be added until at least one academic year exists, because every semester belongs to a year.
What you should see
The year appears in the list and can be chosen elsewhere.
Helpful tips
- Set up years and departments before creating many courses — it saves editing them all later.