Hundreds of students in third-level education on both sides of the Border will soon be asked their views about semesterisation in the largest ever survey on the subject in Irish colleges.

Semesterisation remains a subject of contention, with certain colleges pushing it very strongly.

USI will be running the survey. Ian Russell, its education officer, says semesterisation "has been the buzzword over the last few years to such an extent that it hasn't really been questioned. "The more academic thrust of semesters might be suited for adult education, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is good for undergraduates who still have to develop life skills," he says. It can adversely affect participation in extra-curricular activities, he suggests. "If a student comes out of college with a one-dimensional character, what good is that to him?"

USI has no policy on semesterisation as yet, Russell stresses. This survey marks the beginning of a process whereby the union will decide whether or not to support semesterisation and, if supporting it, with what guidelines. USI hopes the survey's findings will spur other unions such as those for teachers, into balloting their members.

When it was suggested that many of those taking part in the survey would not actually be affected by future semesterisation, as they would be finished college by the time it was implemented, Russell said that this was always the case to some extent with decisions made by students - and also that some colleges move faster than others in making changes.

The announcement of the survey was made in Limerick, where USI was launching papers from a conference on semesterisation held in Dublin Castle last December.

Explaining the delay between the conference, publication of the papers and the start of the survey, Russell says: "It was a question of timing and resources; we didn't have the full-time support staff last year that we have now and at the moment we're starting to try to open a debate on semesterisation."