In the place where innovative education, cutting-edge research, and community outreach intersect, you'll find Simon Fraser University. Our vision? To be Canada's leading engaged university. Born in 1965, SFU has become Canada's leading comprehensive university with vibrant campuses in British Columbia's largest municipalities — Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey — and deep roots in partner communities throughout the province and around the world.
To be the leading engaged university defined by its dynamic integration of innovative education, cutting-edge research, and far-reaching community engagement—this is the strategic vision that will guide Simon Fraser University's actions and innovations in the years to come. Thousands of students, staff, and faculty—and many thousands more alumni, friends and supporters—joined 2010-11 envision>SFU consultation process to identify the core strengths on which the university might build its future. What emerged was a vision of SFU as the engaged university committed to engaging students, research, and communities. Now it is our opportunity—and our challenge—to turn this vision into a new and functioning reality.
At SFU, students are not "end-users" trained and delivered, but partners in learning, discovery, and community engagement. In addition to critical thinking and research skills, we help them gain practical experience, social aptitudes, and collective understanding not only to be job-ready but also to be life-ready. Our new vision commits SFU to become a world leader in knowledge mobilization. It is renowned for its capacity to disseminate knowledge and to harness new ideas and innovations for the benefit of society. That commitment rests on a solid foundation of and continuing commitment to fundamental research.
Located in Canada on British Columbia's west coast and named for an early explorer, Simon Fraser University opened on September 9, 1965, with 2,500 students. Noted Canadian architects Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey designed the original Burnaby Mountain campus to foster interdisciplinary contact between students and researchers. That same openness and desire to innovate informs SFU's current vision: to be Canada's most community-engaged research university.
Now boasting three distinctive campuses, 30,000 students, 6,500 faculty and staff, and 130,000 alumni, SFU has matured into one of the world's leading teaching and research universities. Consistently ranked among Canada's top comprehensive universities and named to the Times Higher Education list of 100 world universities under 50, SFU is also the first Canadian member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the world's largest college sports association.
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