Simon Fraser University was named after a North American-born explorer of Scottish ancestry who helped open up Canada’s West to world trade. In collaboration with communities near and far, SFU researchers, educators and students are exploring new knowledge to help solve the world's most pressing issues.

SFU was the first Canadian university to offer academic courses on a year-round trimester system (1965). This flexibility helps all types of students harness time to gain intellectual breadth in this rapidly changing world.

Dubbed the "instant university", SFU evolved from a bold idea into an innovative campus with 2,500 charter students and an almost-finished three-sided academic quadrangle with vehicle parking in the middle — in just 30 months.

Award-winning architects Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey designed SFU's Burnaby campus. Surrounded by forest, the mountaintop campus affords magnificent views of Burrard Inlet, the Coast Mountains, the Fraser River and Vancouver Harbour.