Our plans for the future

For over two years, the UASU has collected feedback from students, student leaders, managers, staff and executives in order to create its next long-term strategic plan.

In this document, we strived to outline a broad framework that guides the Students’ Union, while providing enough clarity for students and student leaders to hold the UASU accountable to our shared Mission, Vision and Values. Like this plan’s predecessors, this document is a commitment to the long-term sustainability of the UASU, the advancement of the student movement and the development of our association to match the needs of students.

At the time of writing, we are optimistic about the next four years of the UASU. We envision an association that performs strategic and collaborative advocacy empowered through institutional memory and professional-grade research. We envision operational responsibility to ensure we address student priorities, while recognizing when we must conserve resources. We envision community-building efforts that take into account our diverse student population, their specific needs and ways we can continue to address them.

Above all else, we envision the continued leadership of the UASU in all five of our core pillars.

A strategic plan is a starting point, not the finish line. In order for us to achieve the association we envision, we must continue to hold the UASU accountable to the commitments outlined. This means reoccurring requests for updates from student leaders matched by a willingness from Executives and staff to strive towards this shared vision.

In gratitude, service and love, we are proud to deliver you the UASU’s Strategic Plan!

Pedro Almeida, 2025/26 President

Nathan Thiessen, 2025/26 VP (Operations and Finance)

Our mission is to serve, engage and represent students.

Five pillars support our mission:

• We advocate for student interests to the University, government and the greater community.
• We offer services that address and respond to students’ needs.
• We strive to build community through organized events, programming and collaborative efforts.
• We set up social enterprises that provide for the needs of students and support growth.
• We provide and create space for students to relax, study and socialize.

Our values keep students at the core of what we do.

Do what’s right, even when it’s not easy.

Acting with integrity and respect is essential to an open, collaborative and democratic organization.

Inspire change for the world.

Demonstrating students’ power to effect change inspires the next generation of citizens and leaders.

Act with unbridled compassion.

Adapting and innovating fulfills the expectations of our dynamic community.

Always keep moving.

Providing an inclusive and caring environment empowers students to make the most of any challenges they face.

Learn from the past to improve tomorrow.

Understanding our history is key to building an equitable and sustainable future.

Fostering Trust by Demonstrating Impact and Responsiveness

The strength of the UASU is the trust of students, the confidence that our efforts make a real difference to them. With open and collaborative communication, evidence-based decision-making and purposeful engagement, we will show unmistakable, tangible value to students and partners.

To do this, the UASU will ensure it has the capability to engage fully and cohesively all of the tools at its disposal - operational activities, communications, relationships with the University and government and collaborations with student groups - towards the priority goals that students identify for it.

The UASU will strive to keep its finger on the pulse of the student heartbeat and to deliver meaningful results for its members that are in-touch with their needs.

Building Community and Connection

The UASU is at the heart of student life. Our spaces, programs, services and advocacy must bring people together, celebrate differences, reinforce our common values and strengthen the social fabric of the University. In fostering a sense of connection, we empower students to excel as collaborators, leaders and active contributors to civic life and the community.

Strengthening Sustainability and Stewardship

To serve students effectively, the UASU must be financially healthy, operationally efficient and environmentally responsible. Responsible stewardship of human, financial and physical assets ensures our ability to innovate, reinvest and grow without placing new burdens on students.

We are an organization with ambitious goals and a large mandate that operates with limited resources. We must balance spending and strategic investment to maximize each dollar, hour and effort in the advancement of our mission to serve students. This requires careful decision-making, selecting initiatives that make the greatest impact, driving efficiency across departments and developing the resilience of our operations.

Expanding Partnership and Influence

Both internally to the University and externally to the community and government, the UASU’s impact grows by working together with partners. By building solid, trust-based relationships with the University, different levels of government, student groups, counterparts and community partners, we can shape decisions and achieve cooperative progress on the issues most crucial for students.

Improve outreach to students through purposefully-built and regularly-reviewed communication strategies

• The UASU’s communications have two principle objectives:
  • Engagement with students to create connection and trust
  • Highlighting the value of the UASU through awareness of key activities of importance to students
• The UASU will review its communication strategies to ensure it is data-driven and effective at achieving these two objectives. To assist this, by mid-2026 the UASU will present Students’ Council with a renewed social media strategy created in collaboration with the Executives that demonstrates a long-term plan of being in-touch with students’ engagement habits and by comparing with high-performing counterparts.

The UASU will develop and pilot engagement mechanisms that strengthen two-way communication between students and UASU leaders, with a focus on members who do not typically participate in governance, advocacy and service provision

• Traditional engagement methods, including committee and Council meetings, formal consultations, in-person tabling, scheduled town halls and surveys, do matter, however, there are more opportunities to reach all students. The UASU already uses digital means to share information, but we can build upon our existing tools to support student-to-UASU communication. The UASU will also use high-engagement touch points with students to further awareness and responsiveness.

Increase interdepartmental efforts and structuring to address key priorities

• The UASU will focus on quality over quantity when it comes to its various efforts. When key priorities to students are identified, the UASU will ensure its various departments and experts work together to appropriately address them. The UASU will continuously review its structure to ensure departments are set up for success.

Invest staff time and expand hiring to bring to life the ideas of Students’ Council and its committees

• The UASU will continue to center students and elected student representatives in its decision-making. To assist in this, by mid-2026, the UASU will invest in student and staff positions in place to support:
  • advocacy research;
  • the creation of policies and bylaws as directed by Students’ Council and its committees;
  • supports for Student Representative Associations' transition and operations;
  • research for operating, capital and sustainability programs; and
  • event and campaign support.
• These positions will provide support to the Students’ Council and its committees, including the Executive Committee, in furtherance of the goals of elected student leaders, ensuring elected students are still in charge of providing direction.

Propose a reimagined approach to long-term advocacy priority setting

• By the end of 2026, the UASU will conduct an analysis on how counterpart associations establish long-term advocacy positions and propose an alternative approach for review by Students' Council.

Provide inclusive, accessible and flexible community events and spaces

• The UASU will continue to provide high-quality community events and spaces aimed at bettering the quality of life of students. By pursuing community events that are inclusive of a diverse student body and generally accessible, we will further contribute towards a fulfilling student life experience. By providing accessible, safe and quality spaces for students that meet their diverse needs, we will ensure that students feel that they have a place of connection on campus.

Prioritize opportunities for student staff and early-career professionals to actively participate in and strengthen UASU operations

• As a student-centred, -focused and -led organization, the UASU will focus on hiring students and recent graduates to provide opportunities for professional growth and community involvement. By pursuing a students-serving-students organizational model, we maintain an authentic, built-in connection to the student body.

Maintain a positive working atmosphere for staff and volunteers

• The UASU will foster a positive work environment founded on respect, learning and transparency. With staff and volunteers contributing to the mission of the UASU, we will ensure their efforts are appreciated and that the UASU seizes the opportunity to become a place of well-known, reliable and fair employment.

Propose a restructured UASU governance cycle to offer a better introduction to councillors and better align with University and government advocacy timelines

• By the end of 2026, the UASU will propose a restructured governance cycle that offers councillors the appropriate introduction to governance in order to address reoccurring inefficiencies. This will be done in collaboration with the Executive in order to ensure our efforts align coherently with relevant advocacy timelines.

Develop 3-year operating plans for each department in the UASU

• By the end of 2026, the UASU will invest the time necessary to clearly lay out the direction each of its departments are going in over the following three-years, reflecting the principles in this document through collaboration with the Executive Committee.

Ensure our efforts and systems work coherently and efficiently to achieve organizational goals

• The UASU must make the most effective and best-possible use of its limited resources. To do so requires continuous effort and oversight to eliminate the duplication of effort wherever possible, considered on a holistic basis - the UASU should not replicate the work of others. We must also commit to periodic in-depth reviews of operating activities, ensure that new programs are taken on with clear goals and resourcing strategies. Finally, we must engage in collaborative efforts wherever possible, whether that means interdepartmentally between internal operating units, or with the University and the community of student groups.

Diversify revenue generation

• The UASU will work towards diversifying its revenue streams to ensure resilience in operations. Student membership fees currently account for around 38% of year-over-year revenue, which we will reduce by ensuring our businesses and emerging revenue sources operate efficiently to pursue increased profit, while recognizing the need for some of them to function as social enterprises. By mid-2026, the UASU will develop a 3-year fundraising strategy focused on supplementing and further diversifying our revenue streams.

Act with consideration for those who follow

• Consideration of our responsibilities to our successors must be a key consideration in all decisions and actions. The UASU has a responsibility to ensure that we expand opportunity for future students and student leaders and act responsibly as a steward to enhance the environmental sustainability and fiscal security of the UASU through effective capital project planning that enhances the environmental and social sustainability of our operations. The UASU must also strive for its operations to be efficient, taking into account advancements in technology within a sustainability lens.

Partner with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) student representatives and communities to advance reconciliation and uphold the UASU’s reconciliatory commitments

• The UASU will continue to collaborate with FNMI student leaders, University partners and Indigenous communities to ensure advocacy and services reflect reconciliation in both principle and practice. The UASU will also explore opportunities to codevelop initiatives that celebrate Indigenous cultures in substantive and sustained ways, address systemic barriers and support meaningful Indigenous student representation across governance structures and decision-making positions. This includes uplifting and supporting existing Indigenous spaces, resources and leadership.
• The UASU will work to address imbalanced power dynamics and legacy governance structures that affect the relationship between Indigenous student leaders and the UASU by seeking guidance from Indigenous engagement specialists and relevant partners, including University of Alberta engagement units, the Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute, the Métis Nation of Alberta, Indigenous Elders and First Nations governance bodies.

Increase areas of collaboration with student groups at the University

• The UASU will continue to leverage its professional capacity to elevate the efforts of student groups that address key strategic priorities of the student body. Through the pursuit of joint endeavours, the UASU can benefit from the engagement, connectivity and outreach of student groups to effectively address the needs of students.
• To assist with this, by the end of 2026, the UASU will develop a plan to secure and train appropriate support for Indigenous student groups on campus.

Empower Student Representative Associations

• The UASU will invest the time and resources necessary to help Student Representative Associations (SRAs) maintain sustainable operation. In alignment with UASU bylaws, the UASU will respect the authority of SRAs to represent their students, while providing the appropriate levels of increased assistance in their advocacy efforts.

Connect with community-partners to create opportunities for students

• The UASU will continue to leverage relationships with the external community, UASU and University alumni, as well as business and non-profit partners to create employment, volunteer and engagement opportunities for students.

Pursue effective external advocacy and fiscal responsibility through partnerships with counterpart organizations

• The UASU will continue, where possible, to approach external advocacy to different levels of government through collaborative partnerships with counterpart organizations. The UASU will also explore leveraging these partnerships to achieve purchasing power that can secure key discounts.