The Program

Explorations is a two-semester cohort program for first-year students entering SFU in the fall semester. It is an exciting preparatory pathway to your degree program. Smaller classes and closer contact with your classmates and professors really help you find your way in your first year.

Explorations supports students who have already chosen a major, as well as those who wish to explore a range of options before they choose.  The program explores a wide range of ideas and issues in interdisciplinary curricula, combining different areas such political science, economics, sociology, and geography or literature, the creative arts, and cultural studies. At the same time, students have the opportunity to discover new interests and build skills and knowledge across a broad set of programs.

Explorations courses are designed to help with the completion of Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth (WQB) requirements for SFU graduation.

The number of students in each Explorations cohort is capped in order to enhance group learning and the experience of community.  Select courses include a seminar-style environment where a small group of students work closely with the professor. Courses and tutorials are designed to increase contact with professors.

In addition to small, supportive learning community, Explorations also provides a new context for which to consider yourself and your life in relationship to the world around you. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own learning and to express their understanding of topics and of academic skills in a wide variety of ways: in individual and group projects, in creative and analytical thinking, and in hands-on and theoretical exercises. You'll discover your own learning style and explore your academic interests.

Explorations students start this first-year program by selecting their core courses and elective of interest.

Explorations students will build strong writing and presentation skills as well as critical thinking and analytical skills. In addition to academic skills and knowledge, students will develop lifelong learning strategies: how to work in teams, how to do research, how to communicate effectively, how to solve problems creatively. The skills that Explorations students acquire will prepare them to be active, engaged global citizens and increase their ability to market themselves in the new economy.