How the Hub started

Over the past year, the External Relations, Advancement and Alumni Relations and Research and International portfolios have been exploring how to better collaborate to enable and support the university’s external partnerships. 

Partnerships are part of SFU’s mission as an engaged university but, at times, challenges have arisen from siloed activities. Sometimes, this has resulted in duplicated efforts between teams, complicated or unclear processes or many “hops” to find the right support at SFU. 

The Partnership Hub aims to address that coordination challenge. We are breaking down silos between departments, while deploying existing portfolio resources, to improve partnership support for the university. 

This three-year initiative aims to make support more accessible and improve coordination by: 

• Facilitating connections to the right expert, resource or process 

• Strengthening collaboration and information sharing across teams 

• Building capacity and shared resources to support partnerships at different stages
  

Taking a collaborative approach enables SFU to increase its partnership momentum and better capitalize on opportunities with external partners. Together, we can help advance society, address social and economic challenges and grow our reputation as Canada’s engaged university.