> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bizaxl.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Academic Calendar
> How to create academic years and terms, and how to configure Education Settings so the system knows which year and term is currently active.
The academic calendar is the foundation of the entire system. Every student enrolment, attendance record, exam, fee invoice, and report is attached to an academic year and term. Before anyone can do anything meaningful in Bizaxl College Management, the academic calendar must be in place.
***
## Who Does This
| Task | Who Does It |
| ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Creating Academic Years and Terms | Academic Administrator / System Administrator |
| Configuring Education Settings | Academic Administrator / System Administrator |
| Creating a new year at the start of each cycle | Academic Administrator |
***
## Academic Year vs. Academic Term
**Academic Year** is the top-level time structure - the full year of study. Examples: "2025–2026", "Academic Year 2026".
**Academic Term** is a subdivision of the academic year. Depending on how your institution is structured, a term might be:
* A semester: "Semester 1 2025", "Semester 2 2025"
* A trimester: "Term 1", "Term 2", "Term 3"
* A quarter: "Q1 2025", "Q2 2025"
One Academic Year can contain multiple Academic Terms.
***
## How to Create an Academic Year
1. Go to **Education workspace → Academics card → Academic Year**
2. Click **New**
3. Enter a **Year Name** (e.g. "2025–2026")
4. Set the **Year Start Date** and **Year End Date**
5. Click **Save**
***
## How to Create an Academic Term
1. Go to **Education workspace → Academics card → Academic Term**
2. Click **New**
3. Set the **Academic Year** (link to the year you just created)
4. Enter a **Term Name** (e.g. "Semester 1 2025")
5. Set the **Term Start Date** and **Term End Date**
6. Click **Save**
Repeat for each term within the year.
***
## Field Guide - Academic Year
| Field | Required | Purpose |
| ------------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| **Year Name** | Yes | The name shown across the system (e.g. "2025–2026") |
| **Year Start Date** | No | When this academic year begins |
| **Year End Date** | No | When this academic year ends |
***
## Field Guide - Academic Term
| Field | Required | Purpose |
| ------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Academic Year** | Yes | Which academic year this term belongs to |
| **Term Name** | Yes | The name of the term/semester (e.g. "Semester 1 2025") |
| **Term Start Date** | No | When this term begins |
| **Term End Date** | No | When this term ends |
***
## Configuring Education Settings
After creating the academic year and terms, you must tell the system which year and term are currently active. This is done in **Education Settings**.
1. Go to **Education workspace → Settings card → Education Settings**
2. Set **Current Academic Year** to the year you just created
3. Set **Current Academic Term** to the term you are currently in
4. Review the other settings on this page (see below)
5. Click **Save**
***
## Key Education Settings
| Setting | Purpose |
| -------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Current Academic Year** | The default year used when creating new records across the system |
| **Current Academic Term** | The default term used when creating new records |
| **Attendance Freeze Date** | Past this date, attendance records are locked and cannot be edited. Prevents retroactive changes to historical records |
| **Instructor Records to be created by** | Controls who can create Instructor records |
| **Submit Sales Invoice from Programme Enrollment** | If ticked, submitting a Programme Enrollment automatically submits the fee invoice as well |
| **Submit Sales Invoice from Fee Schedule** | Same as above, but triggered by a Fee Schedule |
| **Razorpay Key** | Payment gateway key for online fee payment links |
| **Razorpay Secret** | Payment gateway secret for online fee payment links |
***
## Rolling Over to a New Academic Year
At the end of each year, you create the next year's records:
1. Create a new **Academic Year** (e.g. "2026–2027")
2. Create new **Academic Terms** for the new year
3. Update **Education Settings** to point to the new year and first term
4. Use the **Programme Enrolment Tool** to advance continuing students into the new year
5. Rebuild **Student Groups** and the **Class Schedule** for the new year
Do not delete old academic years - they are needed to access historical attendance, assessment, and fee records.
***
## Best Practices
**Create the new academic year at least two weeks before term starts.** Other staff need the year to exist before they can create student groups, schedules, and fee structures. Starting late creates a bottleneck.
**Set the Attendance Freeze Date at the start of each term.** This prevents instructors from retroactively editing attendance from previous weeks. A rolling freeze (e.g. always 7 days before today) is a common approach.
**Keep old academic year records.** Never delete historical Academic Year or Term records - they are linked to attendance, exam results, and fee records that you may need to refer to years later.
**Update Education Settings when the term changes.** When you move from Semester 1 to Semester 2, update the Current Academic Term in Education Settings. If you forget, new records will default to the old term.
***
## Troubleshooting
**New enrolments are going to the wrong year:** Check Education Settings - the Current Academic Year may still be set to the previous year. Update it and save.
**Cannot create a Course Schedule for the new year:** Make sure the new Academic Year exists and is set as current in Education Settings. The Course Scheduling Tool uses the current year to filter student groups.
**Attendance records cannot be edited:** Check the Attendance Freeze Date in Education Settings. If today's date is past the freeze date, historical attendance is locked by design. Only a System Administrator can change or remove the freeze date.
***
## Related Pages
* [Programmes & Courses](/education/academic-management/programmes-courses) - set up your academic catalogue after the calendar is in place
* [Programme Enrollment](/education/academic-management/programme-enrollment) - enrol students in the current academic year
* [Timetabling](/education/academic-management/timetabling) - build the class schedule for the current term