The Faculty Council yesterday extended the Summer School's experimentation with four-week intensive courses for three more years because students and faculty members who participated in short courses this summer were largely satisfied.

Michael Shinagel, director of continuing education, who will direct, the Summer School next year, said yesterday that surveys of participants showed that the courses did not suffer by being half as long as most Summer School courses.

But he said intensive work is more suitable for the social sciences and the humanities than for the natural an physical sciences, because "there is no way students can absorb certain kinds of material in a short time."

"We're still trying to figure out to what extent we can use the intensive courses," Shinagel said. Before courses are offered on a half-summer basis, they will be screened by the department chairmen and by the Summer School to ensure that the material is suitable for intensive study.

The intensive courses were set up as a way of attracting students and faculty who did not want to commit two full months to the Summer School.

Thomas E. Crooks, who this summer announced his resignation as Summer School director effective next year, declined to comment yesterday.