Overview
Simon Fraser University's Interdisciplinary Degree Programs Offer Depth and Breadth to Undergraduates in All Fields
Comprising multiple faculties on three British Columbia campuses (the main campus in Burnaby and others in Vancouver and Surrey), Simon Fraser University represents excellence as well as innovation in its diversified academic programs. Committed to interdisciplinary study, excellent research, passionate teaching, and first-rate scholarship, the faculty of SFU work hard to attract the best students from around the world, while the administration seeks out faculty members who excel at both vigorous pedagogy and leading-edge research.
Since 1965 SFU has been "opening minds" and introducing successive generations of students to a "fresh new approach to higher learning" that makes interdisciplinary study a core goal. Staff, faculty, and students have been doing this for over 40 years, and have made SFU a leading Canadian university and a world-ranked research institution. With an interdisciplinary degree program in every academic area, student of all interests continue to live out SFU's innovative mission, in which creative approaches to learning can be made available to the global community. These motivated learners are joined at SFU by internationally renowned researchers, inspired and inspiring educators, top researchers in myriad fields, and enlightened administrators devoted to progress.
Over 100 undergraduate and graduate programs are offered across SFU's trio of campuses, and teachers are constantly advancing the boundaries of scholarship through innovation and interdisciplinary study. In fact, among the things for which SFU is best known are its trailblazing interdisciplinary degree programs and the farsighted co-operative education program. From Western Canada, SFU continues to reach out to the world.
SFU Lets Students Create Their Own Degrees across Disciplines, Departments, and Campuses
Combining academic excellence with curricular flexibility allows students to create their own degree at SFU from more than 100 programs across six faculties. Students can combine programs from any faculty while planning their degree. All undergraduate education at SFU is rich with variety, allowing students to balance the various components of education, research, and hands-on experience.
The Faculty of Science offers over 30 different programs leading to a Bachelor of Science degree. By combining traditional programs in core disciplines with an innovative interdisciplinary approach, students can create their own degree (like a joint major in computing science and molecular biology). The multidisciplinary Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU's newest faculty, teams experts in social sciences, medicine, and biomedical research for groundbreaking interdisciplinary programs.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences makes planning a degree a joyous challenge. These faculty members derive great strength from their diversity to make meaningful contributions in teaching and research, while providing students a broad liberal arts education. The Faculty of Communication, Art, and Technology is similarly devoted to helping students create their own degree from the many different courses and concentrations available.
SFU Business offers an academic program with exciting opportunities for co-operative education, student-run businesses, and international exchanges. If students are planning their degree around business and/or management, they will find all the flexibility they need to design and earn a truly "customized" diploma. SFU's Applied Sciences programs are unique, as well, using an interdisciplinary approach that urges students to question creatively while pursuing the answers across traditional disciplinary boundaries.
Comprehensive Career Services and Focused Co-op Education Empower SFU's Approach to Preparing Students for the Workforce
Preparing students for the workforce is the primary responsibility of any university. At SFU, a tremendous amount of energy and resources are aimed at helping students identify and pursue a major and, thus, a career. A new system called Symplicity assembles in one (virtual) location all the aspects of work integrated learning, including co-op education, volunteer services, and career services. Alumni and student job openings, co-op education jobs, volunteer opportunities, and an event management system are all found at the Symplicity website (www.sfu.ca/wil/symplicity).
The value of co-op education is impossible to overstate, as SFU's way of preparing students for the workforce places a firm emphasis on hands-on learning and doing. Working for public or private companies, nonprofit organizations, schools, and government agencies will add valuable experiential learning to SFU's classroom curricula. Students learn new skills and enhance current ones, apply academic learning to practical matters, experience another dimension of "coursework in action," narrow their career choices, and even defray the cost of education.
The career services staff comprises a diverse group of professionals that help students chart a course to their chosen careers. Support, encouragement, and expert advice are available from the earliest planning stages all the way through scheduling interviews for students' dream jobs. Students can go to a one-on-one career advising session, attend workshops, and even meet employers right on campus. The process of self-discovery leads to improved self-knowledge, with which faculty advisers and career services counselors can help students define their ultimate goals.
