Simon Fraser University

Reputation

SFU has been rated as Canada's best comprehensive university five times (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000) in the annual rankings of Maclean's Magazine and has consistently placed at or near the top of the publication's national evaluations.

Related Topics:
1993 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 2000 - Maclean's Magazine

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From its inception, SFU had a reputation for radicalness. Its first years witnessed a number of teach-ins and sit-ins that caused quite a bit of instability. Though this reputation has waned over the years, one can still occasionally hear the university and its students referred to as "the Marxists on the Hill."

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The student activists in the 1960s also led a "cultural revolution" to pioneer democratic university governance in Canada. In May 1967, SFU became the first Canadian university to seat students in its Senate (Academic Governing Body).http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/98-2/issue13/aletter.html

Related Topics:
Canada - 1967

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SFU's reputation for radical thinking led it to create academic programs that are innovative and flexible. For example, SFU is the first university in Canada to offer an Executive MBA program for working managers in 1968; SFU also offers Canada's first Liberal Studies MA program in 1991.

Related Topics:
Executive - MBA - 1968 - MA - 1991

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Having one of the largest co-operative programs in Canada, SFU provides students in virtually all undergraduate and most graduate areas opportunities to explore the real world while they are still in school. The extensive exchange programs and field schools also provide students opportunities to study overseas. SFU excels in interdisciplinary studies, which allows students to maximize their academic experience.

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In May 2004, the SFU Senate approved the policy on compulsory exit requirements for all its undergraduate students making SFU the first Canadian university to implement such university-wide requirements. All students must complete a selected number of writing intensive, quantitative based, and breadth courses before graduation. The goal of this new requirement is to enrich students' core competencies.http://www2.sfu.ca/ugcr/

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SFU's ethnic composition is quite unique because of the demographic composition of Burnaby and surrounding areas and because SFU has the highest number of international students of any Canadian university at 7% of its student body.

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