Get Involved in the next McGill's Strategic Academic Plan!
McGill launches consultation on next Strategic Academic Plan
Surveys, focus groups and forums will be held to solicit input from students, faculty, staff and alumni
By Neale McDevitt
Editor, McGill Reporter
September 4, 2026
“We want colleagues and students to help us consider the kind of university we want to be, the experiences we want our students to have and how we can advance our teaching, research and service missions,” says Angela Campbell, Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic)Owen Egan/Joni Dufour
McGill is launching a broad community consultation to help shape its next Strategic Academic Plan (SAP), which will establish the University’s academic priorities for 2027-2032.
The consultation, beginning within the coming weeks, will invite students, faculty, staff and alumni to consider some fundamental questions: What are the essential elements of a McGill education? What signature experience should McGIll students have? What should the University prioritize over the next five years? What outcomes should McGill work toward in its academic programs and how should this relate to engagement with the broader Quebec society and globally?
Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) Angela Campbell, who is leading development of the plan, said the consultation represents an opportunity to think collectively about the University’s direction at a time of significant change.
“We have an important opportunity to think together about where McGill should be headed and what we want the University to become over the next five years,” Campbell said. “The Strategic Academic Plan will help us set those priorities, and its success will depend on the perspectives and aspirations of our campus community. We want colleagues and students to help us consider the kind of university we want to be, the experiences we want our students to have and how we can advance our teaching, research and service missions.”
The consultation will move from broad questions about the University’s purpose to more specific questions about priorities, desired outcomes and possible actions. The process is intended to produce a plan that is strategic rather than an “everything but the kitchen sink” list. The plan would leave room for Faculties and other units to determine how broad priorities can be implemented in their own contexts.
Building a plan – and trust
Nicole Li-Jessen, Academic Lead, Faculty Development and Engagement, is collaborating with Campbell in leading the consultation. For Li-Jessen, the process is about more than producing a document.
“I see this as a kind of academic self-reflection for the McGill community,” she said. “We need to ask where we want to position ourselves as McGill and what should define us over the next five years.”
One question will be particularly important, she said: What makes McGill distinctive?
“This is an opportunity to ask ourselves what is unique about McGill. What is the academic experience we want to offer our students and our teachers? What is McGill’s signature?”
The consultation is also designed to strengthen trust through transparency. Summaries of what the University hears will be published at each stage. When the draft plan is released, the University will explain how consultation input influenced it, including what was not incorporated, and why.
“We may not be able to do everything people ask for, but we want people to know that we are listening,” Li-Jessen said.
The consultation will include online surveys, focus groups, stakeholder meetings, and other community-reaching channels.
Students have a central role
For Meghan Lai, Vice-President (University Affairs) of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), student participation is essential.
“No one knows what students need better than students themselves,” said Lai, a U3 Education student. “McGill has an incredibly thoughtful and capable student population, so it is crucial that as many students as possible actually say what they are thinking.”
Lai said she became involved in the consultation in part because of her interest in teaching and learning. Her own program has given her a strong sense of what effective learning can look like, she said, including small learning communities, close relationships with professors and experiential approaches to teaching.
She said she hopes students will use the consultation to describe both what is working and what needs to change.
Timetable for the process
The consultation will unfold in stages. Surveys and focus groups with academic and professional staff, students and alumni will take place throughout the Fall. Governance and Faculty leadership consultations will follow later in the Fall and next Winter, including a presentation to Senate. Upon the completion of the consultation, a summary and a draft of the Plan will be shared with the community for feedback
The final SAP will be sent to the Senate and Board of Governors in April and May 2027.
Campbell said the process is intended to reinforce McGill’s culture of thoughtful, open dialogue.
“Universities should be places where we can examine difficult questions with curiosity, intellectual rigour and respect, while remaining open to perspectives that challenge our own,” she said. “This consultation gives us a chance to practise that kind of dialogue and to think ambitiously about McGill’s future. I hope members of our community will take the opportunity to contribute – because the direction we set together will help shape the University for years to come.”