The Faculty of Education's new international Master of Education degree in curriculum and instruction is a two-year program sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency. With the goal of promoting lifelong learning in their developing nations, students from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia will study in Asia for four semesters with face-to-face and online support from SFU faculty and local mentors, followed by a further eight weeks at SFU's Burnaby campus where they will attend a course focusing on adult education.

SFU continued to expand its global reach with the addition of two new field schools in Brazil and India, bringing the total to 18. Students in the Latin American Studies field school benefited from specialized classes on Brazilian politics, social movements, participatory governance, and the Portugese language, while students in the Contemporary Art and Culture of India field school studied music, dance, visual art, theatre and film at universities and film schools in New Delhi, Varanasi and Mumbai.

In 2006, SFU president Michael Stevenson invited a number of Indo-Canadian leaders from business, media, education and government to help the university engage more effectively with Canada's large South Asian population. The newly formed SFU India Advisory Council meets regularly to find solutions to issues such as the low post-secondary participation rate of children from the Punjabi community, and how best to pursue research, academic and business partnerships in India.

In August 2006, in the small Nigerian village of Eniwari, 60 pupils from across Africa began classes in a new school established by SFU grad student Daniel Igali. The renowned Olympic free wrestling gold medalist was born and grew up in the impoverished village. He has spent the past several years raising more than $600,000 to build the 11-room school.

English2Go, the brainchild of SFU's 7th Floor Media co-director Julie Zilber, is a cellphone-based application that encourages English as a Second Language students to practice their vocabulary, grammar and conversation skills whenever and wherever they please. Working with a number of community partners, Zilber is now field-testing the system, which combines customized voice-recognition technology and language analysis software with a unique teaching model that allows students to practice speaking with and listening to “virtual” English speakers.