President's report - May Board meeting

This continues to be a dynamic and challenging time at SFU. We know that workforce adjustments have been difficult for our community, and our current priority is ensuring that students, faculty and staff are supported and informed during this time of change.

We are making difficult choices in the current moment to set SFU up for a strong and sustainable financial future. I am grateful to the Board and the entire community for their understanding and for working collaboratively and supporting each other.

Administrative updates

University budget

In response to financial challenges faced at SFU and shared by universities across Canada, in May, we made the difficult decision to eliminate positions held by some of our colleagues. As a result, there have been approximately 85 SFU position eliminations. The voluntary separation program is now also closed.

On May 15, we emailed faculty and staff to provide an update on the process. While any job loss is painful, we appreciate the efforts made across the community to mitigate the impacts to people where possible. As provost and vice-president academic Dilson Rassier shared in earlier messages to the community, we did our best to minimize any impact on teaching, learning and research. 

People Strategies is supporting impacted employees through the position elimination process in alignment with all obligations under the respective collective agreements, SFU policies and the BC Labour Code. Our People Strategies team will continue to work with departments and units in the coming months.

I want to acknowledge that the uncertainty and changes have been hard on our community and express gratitude to the entire community for navigating this challenging period with care and consideration.

Enrollments

As noted in the March 2024 report, international student enrolments were down in 2023/24, compounding the reductions incurred since 2021. However, domestic enrolments remained strong in 2023/24, with students taking higher average credit loads, and SFU exceeding the ministry-funded target for undergraduate program full-time equivalents (PFTEs) by 8%.

The Senate-approved enrolment plan for 2024/25 is for co-op and non-co-op undergraduate domestic PFTEs enrolment to be 18,335. This number is 5% above the Ministry-funded program FTE of 17,464, which includes 175 new tech seats for 2024/25. The latest applications-admissions data for new domestic students intending to start in fall 2024, as well as preliminary registration data for the summer 2024 semester, indicates that we are on track to meet the domestic target.

The Senate-approved international FTE target (excluding co-op) for 2024/25 is 4,000, which equates to 19% of all undergraduate FTEs; our long-range target is 25%. The latest data for new international students intending to start in fall 2024, as well as preliminary registration data for the summer 2024 semester, indicate that we will face significant challenges in achieving the 2024/25 targets. While we are pleased with the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills’ response to the international student visa cap announced by the federal government in January, the policy uncertainties have created additional challenges for international student recruitment into Canada this year.

In response, we have funded and are implementing a series of international student recruitment strategies. These steps include: hiring to support admissions processing; in-country representatives and staffing support for IRCC’s manual changes; recruitment trips; contracting IDP Connect as a foundational tactic for lead collection; virtual campus tours; and funding, resource and promotional assets to support building markets.

What’s Next: Year One in Review

At this Board meeting, provost and vice-president academic Dilson Rassier shared results from the first year of implementation of What’s Next: The SFU Strategy. Highlights from the year across each of the university’s priorities include:

• Uphold Truth and Reconciliation: Construction of the First Peoples’ Gathering House and appointment of SFU’s inaugural Indigenous Executive Lead
• Engage in Global Challenges: Development of an enrolment strategy for international students and establishment of minimum income for research PhD students
• Make a Difference for B.C.: Advancement of the School of Medicine and awarding of 500 new tech-relevant seats to SFU
• Transform the SFU Experience: The launch of the People Plan and Equity Compass, establishment of the Accessibility Committee and the achievement of Living Wage status with major employee groups.

The presentation noted that, despite challenges in implementation, we advanced key actions during Year One and a framework is now in place to set us up for success in Year Two.

Draft areas of focus for 2024–25 will revolve around strengthening foundational practices and activities while primarily reflecting work already resourced and underway. The development and launch of the Academic Plan will be a key area of focus, further aligning and centering the academic mission with What’s Next. Other areas of focus include the development of the Indigenous Strategic Plan and Accessibility Plan, continued advancement of the School of Medicine at SFU, completion of the First Peoples’ Gathering House, Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum and Black Student Centre and launch of a demographic and diversity data collection survey.

Leadership renewal

A number of leadership searches are currently ongoing at SFU. The Dean of Libraries and University Librarian is underway, with long list candidates being considered. The searches for both the Dean of SFU’s Beedie School of Business and the Dean of the SFU Medical School are in the final stages of the search process. Jeremy Snyder has been appointed pro tem Dean of the Faculty of Health, and a search for longer term leadership is expected to begin in the coming months.

Labour relations

SFU and the Teaching Staff Support Union (TSSU) recently participated in a hearing at the Labour Relations Board on Graduate Students receiving scholarships. Evidence in chief, written submission and oral arguments are complete by both parties. The Labour Relations Board is reviewing and will render a decision as soon as possible.

The university and APSA are currently re-negotiating the Basic Agreement. The university met with APSA leadership with the support of a mediator from April 15-17 but were unable to reach agreement through mediated negotiations. As a next step, the mediator proposed that the university and APSA each share their final positions for consideration. The mediator has since made non-binding recommendations for the university and APSA to consider, which both parties are currently reviewing.

Earlier this year, the BC Labour Relations Board approved an application from the SFU Faculty Association to transfer 25 APSA members into SFUFA. The university and SFUFA have now begun the process of collective bargaining with these new members. Negotiations are guided by the Province’s 2022 Shared Recovery Mandate, which applies to all public sector employers with unionized employees whose collective agreement expired on or after December 31, 2021. Collective bargaining dates are scheduled throughout May and June and could continue into the fall if needed. More information on collective bargaining at SFU will be shared on our website as it becomes available.

Advancing strategic priorities

There is work occurring across the university to advance the What’s Next strategic priorities. Several key examples are highlighted below.

Uphold Truth & Reconciliation

• I was honoured to attend the second annual Honouring Indigenous Students Powwow this year, organized by the First Nations, Métis & Inuit Student Association and supported by units across the university. It was a wonderful day full of food, music and dancing in support of Indigenous students at SFU.
• The annual Indigenous Student Centre Honouring Feast for Indigenous graduands will be held on Monday, June 10 at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver. Approximately 400 Indigenous graduands and their families are anticipated to attend to celebrate the achievements of Indigenous students at SFU. While the event is now too large to hold on an SFU campus, we look forward to holding future feasts in the First Peoples’ Gathering House once the building opens.

Engage in Global Challenges

• This April, the Vice-President Research and International Portfolio (VPRI) changed its name to Research and Innovation. The new title reflects the priorities of the 2023-2028 Strategic Research Plan, as well as the move of SFU International from the VPRI portfolio to the Provost and Vice-President Academic office. This move aligns SFU International's reporting structure with most other Canadian universities, brings it into the same portfolio as International Services for Students and enables SFU to develop a coordinated strategic approach to global engagement.
• SFU’s vice-president research and innovation Dugan O’Neil travelled to China to attend the sixth Association of Pacific Rim Universities Vice Presidents for Research Meeting at the University of Science and Technology of China. He met with academic partners from around the Pacific Rim to advance research collaborations and explore opportunities and participated in an innovation-themed panel.
• SFU was the host institution for the Swiss Innovation Festival, presented by the Swiss Consulate at SFU’s Vancouver Campus. The event brought together organizations and audiences from science, technology, industry, academia, arts and community around Swiss-Canadian cleantech innovation, with the aim to foster international collaboration through discussions, workshops, networking and exhibitions. Many innovation and cleantech leaders from across SFU participated.
• SFU Chemistry professor Steven Holdcroft and SFU almunus Benjamin Britton received the prestigious 2024 Governor General's Innovation Award. Holdcroft’s ground-breaking research on anion and proton exchange membranes with Britton’s scientific work and entrepreneurial foresight led to the discovery and commercialization of revolutionary clean energy materials.

Make a Difference for B.C.

• In April, I attended the annual Universities Canada membership meeting to hear from and collaborate with peers across the country. We discussed budget challenges, the importance of freedom of expression on campus, universities’ response to climate change and more. At our Universities Canada Board of Directors meeting, I was also elected vice-chair of the Board. I am grateful to my colleagues for their trust as we continue to navigate a challenging time for the post-secondary sector in B.C. and across Canada.
• I was thrilled to see significant investments in research and graduate student support in the 2024 federal budget. SFU and post-secondary institutions across the country continue to meet with all levels of government and share the important contributions that universities make to provincial and federal economies through research, innovation, skills training and knowledge mobilization.
• The Government Relations team has supported 17 government meetings so far this year with the federal and provincial governments, as well as with First Nations. The team has also worked with government officials and helped support four government events at SFU, supported two submissions to federal consultations and worked with federal and provincial electoral staff on making arrangements for upcoming elections.
• We continue to make progress towards building the SFU Medical School. A proposal to approve the creation of a School of Medicine, as well as a Full Program Proposal for the School, were brought to the appropriate Senate committees in April and May. The motions were presented to Senate for full debate and approval on May 21. At this meeting, they were brought to the Board of Governors and unanimously approved. We also continue to move forward with community engagement efforts, with sessions hosted in Surrey, Abbotsford and Hope to hear from community leaders around the pressing health care needs in their areas. 
• Thirteen student-led teams won funding to realize community impact through SFU’s Student-Community Engagement Competition. Students’ projects addressed food security, intergenerational knowledge-keeping, gender-based violence, the toxic drug crisis, climate grief and hope, Reconciliation, homelessness and more. Now in its ninth year, the competition has provided more than $200,000 in funding to advance student learning and research at SFU.
• The Outstanding Alumni Awards, held on April 24 in the Student Union Building on Burnaby campus, were attended by 150 community members and alumni to celebrate this year’s recipients: Kluane Adamek, Anne Giardini, Elio Luongo, and Poh Tan.
• The 2023-24 President’s Faculty Lecture series, hosted each year by SFU Public Square and the President’s Office, is now concluded. 1,310 people joined us across six events to learn from SFU researchers about their work and how they are making a difference for B.C., covering timely topics including the overdose emergency, Indigenous Governing Principles, sustainable housing, transformative justice and more.

Transform the SFU Experience

• Student Services and faculty recruiters collaborated on two #KnowYourSFU events to welcome incoming Fall 2024 undergraduates and their families. SFU’s Burnaby campus hosted 563 attendees on April 11, and the Surrey campus greeted another 169 on April 4. These events successfully introduced new students to their faculties, services and supports while sparking connections between students and the SFU community and helping them ease their transition into university life.
• SFU alumni and donors will have the opportunity to support students in need through student bursaries as part of the FY2025 Spring annual giving campaign. Tom Nault, SFU Registrar and Executive Director of Student Enrolment, will be the signatory for the initiative and SFU will match up to $150,000 in donations to the SFU Annual Bursary Fund. The campaign will be in market in May 2024, and the student calling program will continue through early July.
• The SFU Accessibility Committee is guiding the development of the SFU Accessibility Plan, and currently mapping out an accessible community consultation framework to ensure all relevant stakeholders are included in the process. The SFU Accessibility Plan is expected to launch this fall.
• In April, SFU’s People Strategies team held the second Academic and Administrative Leaders Forum, the first to be held in-person. As outlined in the People Plan, our leaders support framework continues to provide targeted and enhanced support to people who supervise others at SFU, focused on their unique role in leading change, team cohesion and psychological safety in the workplace.
• The On-campus Professional Events Network (OPEN), led by SFU Ceremonies & Events, held an online meeting on May 7 featuring a presentation from Safety and Risk Services (SRS) on best practices related to event security. This event will bring together event planners from across all three SFU campuses, allowing SRS to share information and answer questions or concerns from our entire event planning community.
• I was grateful to attend the annual SFU Undergraduate Research Symposium, where I met incredible student presenters who are advancing an inclusive and sustainable future through their research and work. Congratulations to all, and thanks for everything you bring to SFU.

Joy Johnson
President & Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University