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Institutional Initiatives
In support of its strategic priorities, the Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic is engaged in a number of institution-wide initiatives, including:
Additional Credentials
The purpose of the Additional Credentials initiative is to develop and implement plans for an expanded range of flexible learning options that are shorter in duration than degree programs, augment existing non-degree programs, and introduce pathways between non-credit, undergraduate and graduate studies that promote SFU student access, retention, and program completion (Additional Credentials: Report and Recommendations, March 2025).
Indigenous Initiatives
One primary objective of the Office of the Provost is to support What鈥檚 Next: The SFU Strategy, which outlines four university-wide priorities, including: "Uphold truth and reconciliation". The Provost's Office works with the and provides support for Indigenous initiatives related to students, learning and teaching, and finance and budget administration.
SFU What's Next
What鈥檚 Next: The SFU Strategy was created in response to the changing needs of the communities that SFU serves. This includes a new vision, purpose, values and priorities for the university.
In support of What鈥檚 Next, the Provost's Office will continue to centre the academic mission using insights from the strategy. Reporting units, such as Academic Quality and Assurance and Student Services, are reassessing their goals, commitments, objectives, and operations to fully align with the institution鈥檚 new framework, while continuing to support and meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff.
SFU Medical School
The SFU Medical School is part of the Provost and VP Academic portfolio. For more information please visit the SFU Medical School website.
Student Advising Review
The work of academic advisors is essential to supporting students in their academic journeys. The academic advising review, Academic Advising 1.0 and Beyond, was initiated by the VP Academic and Provost in the Fall 2022 term with the goal of strengthening advising at the university.鈥
The project intention is to develop and define a shared understanding of what academic advising means at SFU, and how we can better support students as well as advisors in their work. This includes potential enhancements related to:
- Advising model (governance, structures, roles and responsibilities)鈥
- Advising standards (curriculum, guidelines for practice, approaches)鈥
- Advising training frameworks, tools and technology鈥
The project includes a widely consultative process with SFU students and advising stakeholders to inform recommendations.
steering committee
The steering committee was co-chaired by Rummana Khan Hemani, Vice-Provost, Students & International and Dr. Lara Campbell, Associate Dean Undergraduate 尤物视频, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with membership representation from students, Faculties and Student Services.鈥
A report, including recommended next steps, will be available for the community in the Fall 2023 term.
Experiential Education
鈥淓xperiential education is when learners purposefully engage in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop learners鈥 capacity to contribute to their communities.鈥 鈥 Adapted from the Association of Experiential Education
尤物视频 values the exceptional student learning experiences that result from experiential education. To understand the diverse landscape of experiential education offerings at SFU, the university launched the Experiential Education Inventory (EEI) project in Spring 2021.
The project aligns with the Student Experience Initiative and the Academic Plan. Its goal is to produce a living inventory of curricular, work-integrated, and co-curricular offerings at SFU.
We hope to create a resource that will help the university鈥攊ncluding administrators, faculty members, instructors, and staff members鈥攃ommunicate systematically about experiential education and support student recruitment, advising, and retention. We also want to support the student learning journey by making it easier for students to discover and make decisions about the opportunities available to them.
The success of this project will depend upon broad participation from the university community. Stay tuned for details.

Experiential education can take many creative forms inside and outside the classroom. This document lays out the criteria for inclusion in the inventory. (March 2021)

Once we have collected a broad sample of experiences, we will seek to categorize them in useful ways. We recognize that there may not always be consensus about terminology and definitions. However, we hope to develop some common language and classifications to help us understand the institutional landscape. This document summarizes some of the considerations in categorizing experiential education. (March 2021)
Multi-Campus Academic Framework
SFU is currently reviewing its multi-campus academic framework to better understand the academic governance and identity of each campus, in support of the strategic priorities, mission, vision and values of the university.
This initiative includes multiple phases, with the current phase being research and data collection for the development of a discussion paper. The paper will include information on the multi-campus model at SFU and other universities with the intent of providing reflections and observations of common themes or trends, opportunities or constraints, academic governance models, and key questions for exploration and discussion in future phases.
Cubane
UniForum Program
What's Next: The SFU Strategy prioritizes transforming the SFU experience and eliminating barriers that hinder faculty and staff from doing their best work. Co-led at SFU by the provost and vice-president academic and the vice-president finance and administration, the UniForum global benchmarking program is a valuable initiative by identifying areas of improvement, streamlining processes, and supporting decision-making that enhances the service experience for the university community and supports the academic mission. Through performance indicators and best practices, the UniForum program gathers and compares SFU activity and administrative service data with those at other participating universities, highlighting areas for further study and planning to remain responsive to evolving needs. Some areas for collective improvement have been identified and leaders of a number of SFU service areas are beginning to use UniForum data, along with other inputs, to pilot improvement projects. SFU is working with Cubane Consulting on this initiative to ensure the data collected is analyzed and interpreted in a meaningful way.