Yes. They're both in common usage to describe: Semester Hours - The number of credits or units awarded for courses on the semester system. Quarter Hours - The same, but for those schools on a quarterly calendar. There are--or were-schools on a trimester system, but they usually awarded semester or quarter hours. The ratio is usually 4 or 4.5 quarter hours to 3 semester hours, depending on who's doing the counting.
I was recently visiting the web site of the University of London where a "course" (the American definition) is described as a "unit." So, you take ten units and receive your Masters degree, etc. In Australia (I think it's Australia) a "course" refers to an entire course of study, such as a Bachelors degree program. In South Africa there's a slightly different set of definitions for some of the terms, although I understand that they've made some attempts to "universalize" their nomenclature recently. In short, the definition of the word depends on who is using it. Within the USA I believe there is much consistency, but once you cross those borders you need to double-check. Jack
At my Canadian University we used credit units which were the same as saying credit hours. When we said "University Calendar" we meant "University catalogue". North
3 semesters? A bit off the subject.... Recently, I read in a university's online literature that it offers "3 enrollment periods: Semester 1, Semester 2 and Semester 3." My past studies of Latin tell me there's a misnomer here. Semester includes "semi" meaning "half." Thus, a semester is a term spanning (roughly) half of a year. Can you have 3 halves in a whole? Probably more correct would be "trimester."
A friend of mine is doing his MBA at USC (Marshall) and tells me they are on a quarter system -- 5 quarters a year. This must be where those Arthur Andersen folks were educated!