Students and teachers have been hard at work for a while now, since term time in teaching institutions has been well under way at least since October, and for many since August. In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours are becoming more precious as the nights get longer. Winter’s cold weather has already settled in many places. Everyone is ready for a break. Still, the stress of academic work is not over yet. Mid-December may be the season of revenue for many types of business, but it is certainly a stressful one for those in the learning business. Particularly in need of a break are probably international students, among them those who have left behind homes in various parts of the Middle East. Students, especially those who are fortunate enough to be able to return home and to a family they can be reunited with, may be at the end of their emotional reserve as the winter break approaches. Perhaps those who have left home for the first time are as homesick by this point as they were excited at the start of term. To many, the cold days and the lack of sunlight make the warmth of home seem all the more appealing. For those less fortunate, who are unable to return home or whose home is no longer a standing or identifiable place, hopes hang high on heart-warming academic achievement: The reward that creates comfort in the present and hope in a better future. Yet, in many educational and academic institutions around the globe, this is the most uncertain time so far in the academic year. Be it sitting examinations, submitting term papers, giving presentations or completing projects, this is an anxiety-filled week. It is the point at which many are expected to demonstrate some fruits of their efforts, progress and development. And it is true for students and faculty alike. These endeavors are some of the qualities that are integral to what educational institutions, especially those in higher academia, promise students and their parents. But no matter how well-oiled the wheels of the educational enterprise might be, learning is one of the most individual experiences one might have. It is also one of the most dynamic processes institutions might create, whether or not constant change is incorporated in their strategic visions. At every corner, the student or apprentice faces new challenges. Be it new subjects, new materials in a familiar subject, or new layers of complexity within an area of existing focus, the learning agents (whom we normally call students) find themselves needing to adapt to new grounds — or at least this should be the case in a successful learning process. The teaching agents, who are the other side of the proverbial coin, are on equally shifting grounds, even if they are teaching a topic they have known for years. Again, one must emphasize, in an ideal world where the teacher (the professor of knowledge) is an active agent in the teaching/learning enterprise. At universities, perhaps more so than in most forms of institutionalized training or edification, teachers are typically able to identify with students because of what they share with them, including, for instance, having spent many years as students themselves. In a rapidly changing world, this would suggest that the more professors share with their pupils, the more this advantage of identification can be a positive force. The risk, however, is that too much similarity might breed replicability. An increasingly important notion in today’s higher education is diversity. Beyond being a buzzword, which is shared in “real world” institutions such as businesses and government, the balance between familiarity and diversity is a delicate one. Perhaps that is nowhere the case more than it is in the classroom, and it translates into added work during the exam season. This is the point at which many are expected to demonstrate some fruits of their efforts. Tala Jarjour Teachers need to be aware of the different types of background represented in their audience. They need to be informed, and equipped, to understand multiple layers of diversity. Learning styles, modes of interpersonal interaction, previous experiences, expectations, value systems, and — perhaps most poignantly in the exam season — strategies for achievement are some of the important variables in a successful teaching/learning process. The burden is on students and teachers alike. The university professor who has dedicated months of work to instill knowledge, encouragement and individual growth will be observing the early signs of their effort, even if they know that the real fruits of this labor may not be borne for years to come. As the cold season brings promises of warmth in sugar-rich hot drinks, the exams season offers the happy substance to deal with nerves. Students rush, by every means, to reach a satisfying end; and teachers, seemingly looking on from the margins, negotiate the most stressful part of their job: Evaluation and grading. For students in and from the Middle East, there are many variables at play. While we all look forward to the good things our fortunes promise us this holiday season, let us remember the double-sided coin of college exams — a testing time for students and teachers alike. Tala Jarjour is author of “Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo” (OUP, 2018). She is currently Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale. Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point-of-view