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Academic Plan (2025-2030)
The SFU Academic Plan plays an important role in advancing our academic mission as a leading research university and upholding our vision and values presented in 鈥�What鈥檚 Next: The SFU Strategy. 鈥疞ed by our values, including the values of academic freedom and critical thinking, the Academic Plan and individual Faculty and Unit multi-year plans ensure our teaching, research, engagement and service activities are well-positioned to achieve our collective goals and continue to deliver significant societal benefits in the years ahead.
Community Consultation
The Academic Plan has been developed iteratively and consultatively with broad-based input from academic leaders, senior administrators, senate committees and senators, student councils, and other individuals and groups across the university community. Some examples of feedback suggestions received through the consultation process include amplifying references on teaching, learning, and community engagement; highlighting more about the student experience and experiential learning鈥�; and incorporating more ways to advance the goals of the SFU Strategic Research Plan鈥�. As of August 2025, the Academic Plan has reached the final stage of development, informed by a wide range of feedback.
Academic Planning Process
Focus Areas
Developed through a planning process carried out in accordance with Senate Guidelines for Academic Plans, the draft SFU Academic Plan identifies the following focus areas that will guide institutional and Faculty/Unit planning over the next five years:
- Program Development and Curriculum Renewal
- Research Excellence
- Decolonization and Indigenization
- Inclusive Excellence and Access
- Internationalization and Global Engagement
- Institutional Effectiveness
The draft plan embeds the priorities set out in the SFU Strategic Research Plan to expand research activities, deepen our engagement with communities, and grow the impact of our scholars. The draft plan also considers resource assumptions and implications in the current enrolment and budget environment.
Priorities and Goals
Early in the academic planning process (July 2024), each Faculty/Unit in the Provost鈥檚 portfolio prepared a priorities matrix considering the intersection between What鈥檚 Next: The SFU Strategy and the focus areas identified in the draft SFU Academic Plan.
Themes identified across Faculty/Unit priorities and through consultation both within and outside the Provost鈥檚 portfolio helped shape the institutional priorities summarized in the SFU Academic Plan Priorities Matrix (November 2024).
The academic planning process was temporarily paused following federal government policy changes affecting international students, global economic instability, and indications of constraints on the provincial budget (January to May 2025). This pause enabled the planning team to revisit and update the resource projections underpinning the draft plan in the context of this challenging environment, and to outline high-level goals at an institutional level that support each of the focus areas of the plan and inform university-wide enrolment, faculty renewal, and budget planning.
Next Steps
Development of the plan is nearing completion following a final phase of consultation (May to July 2025) that included further meetings with academic leaders and senate committees, as well as an open call for feedback from the university community. The final version of the Academic Plan is anticipated to be presented to Senate and the Board of Governors in Fall 2025.