President Stoicheff focused on future of USask in final year

After helping the university navigate through the stormy seas of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-secondary revenue and recruitment challenges, Stoicheff has USask on course to continue its recent rise in rankings and reputation as one of the top medical-doctoral research universities in the country creating growing global impact.

“What I am most proud of is that this university community has rallied around our success and our contributions to the province and beyond,” said Stoicheff, who was installed as USask’s 11th president and vice-chancellor in October of 2015. “I think the university, while remaining humble and modest, should recognize its success and I think it does, and that success will only grow. It’s a fabulous university. You couldn’t imagine the province without it, so I am proud that it sees itself as a community that can contribute and is feeling good about itself.”

USask began 2025 having raised more than $470 million of its goal to generate half a billion dollars of donations in the largest campaign in the history of the university and in the history of the province. After building momentum in the first couple of years of the quiet phase of the comprehensive effort to raise funds and profile for the university, USask went public with its launch in April of 2023 and will conclude the campaign in June of 2025.

“The financial success of the campaign is certainly gratifying and it has already helped out a lot of things. It had been going for quite a while before we made it public a couple of years ago and during the quiet phase it allowed us to build Merlis Belsher Place, which has become a great community venue,” said Stoicheff. “So what it signals is that there is a lot of support for the university and you wouldn’t have that support if you weren’t doing things right – from having more students each year, and research with impact that matters to people, to being a strong community presence. There is a lot of support for the university and I think it shows that we’re on the right track.”

The year 2024 marked a record in research funding for the university, which was awarded $417 million in the 2023/2024 fiscal year, the highest amount ever received in one year in the history of USask.

“To put that in context, we have always had excellent research, scholarly and artistic work occurring here and it’s not as if we chase the numbers and the dollar figures, but we want to set levels of aspiration,” said Stoicheff, noting the university also set a record for $324 million in research revenue in 2023/24. “For quite a while (research funding) levels institutionally hovered annually around the $200 million dollar mark and we really raised our sights a couple of years ago and said we can make $300 million and we did two years ago. But to suddenly leapfrog up to $417 million tells us a lot about public and government support for what we do here.”

The record research support for USask came from increases in Tri-Council funding – Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) – as well as interdisciplinary grants from provincial and federal funding agencies, industry partners and private donations. USask also remains the only university in the country that features four national research centres – Canadian Light Source (CLS), Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) and the Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) launched in April of 2024 – and received a total of $170 million to account for a quarter of all CFI Major Sciences Initiatives funding awarded to Canadian universities in 2022.

“This kind of support shows that we are on the right track with our national facilities and that we have superb faculty because it’s not easy to get Tri-Council funding. The national success rates are relatively low and competitive, so it shows that our research has impact, and that governments at different levels – provincial and federal – understand the value and the impact of what we do,” said Stoicheff, noting that the university has received provincial, federal and private funding for a variety of projects, including VIDO’s new Level 4 containment facility currently under construction. “The long and short of it is that it tells us the university is doing things that matter to the people of the province and the country, so that has been gratifying to see.”

In 2024, USask continued its recent rise in a variety of influential ranking systems of the world’s best universities, from the QS World University Rankings of the top 1,500 in the world, to the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy ratings of the 2,500 best institutions around the globe, to The Times Higher Education (THE) ranking of 2,000 of the world’s leading universities. Among USask’s achievements is being ranked No.2 in the country and in the Top 30 in the world in the area of freshwater resources research.
 
“We look at The Times Higher Education, we look at the Shanghai, we look at the QS, and I think the QS is the most meaningful for a number of reasons, as they have institutional rankings for where your university is vis-a-vie others globally, but they also have the by-subject rankings and we have done well in those,” said Stoicheff. “We have risen more in the rankings themselves but we also have more subjects included in those rankings in the top 100, so that is exactly what you are looking for.

“And why? It’s because when aspiring students from around the world look to Canada, they examine the international rankings and they want to go to places where those universities are doing well and they want to be a part of that success. So that is really why it is important. It means that we are increasingly a good talent magnet for the province and the city and indeed for the country.”

Among the recent ranking highlights, USask was rated among the top 100 universities in the world in four subject areas in 2024 – water resources (29th), agricultural sciences (51-75th), earth sciences (76-100th) and veterinary sciences (76-100th) – up from two in 2023, in the ShanghaiRanking 2024 Global Rankings of Academic Subjects, as well as continuing to move forward in the QS subject rankings and maintaining its strong position in a variety of THE rankings, including increasing its metrics in the area of research quality.

USask continued to expand and embed ohpahotân | oohpaahotaan – the Indigenous Strategy – in programs and priorities throughout the university in 2024, while enhancing community connections through new Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, Thunderchild First Nation, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

“I am pleased that we have a number of new agreements,” said Stoicheff. “And no matter who is at the university, no matter who is the vice-provost Indigenous engagement, no matter who is the president, no matter who the faculty are, these agreements are now baked into what the university now is and they are responsibilities and commitments. So they will outlive all of us being at the university and that’s what’s really important.”

Stoicheff is also pleased with the expansion of anti-racism training at the university and to see a full house at the recent ohpahotân | oohpaahotaan fall symposium, a sign that the university is indeed heading in the right direction. However, Stoicheff also acknowledged that the university still has a long ways to go in its commitment to transformative decolonization leading to reconciliation.

“You can’t get to the point where you sort of wash your hands and say yes, been there, done that. This will go on for generations and I think we have been learning along the way,” said Stoicheff. “We listen carefully, and we continue to try to improve, and there are many people who help us. The group that we call the Wise Ones, they are telling us what’s needed. Different chiefs, like Chief (Delbert) Wapass at Thunderchild First Nation, they are telling us what is needed, and that’s how we are able to do this work, so I am thankful for them. We have the support of Knowledge Keepers, Elders, Indigenous community leaders, and Indigenous political leaders and that is why we are able to do the good work that we are trying to do.”

A key pillar of USask’s comprehensive campaign is creating additional support for student success, at a time when the university is attracting more high-achieving students than ever before. For the second straight year, USask has helped produce two Rhodes Scholars – 2024 College of Law graduate Kennedy Marley and current College of Engineering student Colin Dyck – for a total of five in the past three years. Considering there are only 11 Rhodes Scholarships awarded to students among Canada’s 97 universities each year, the unprecedented success is a sign the university is attracting – and developing – some of the most successful students in the world.

“For a university of our size – the smallest in the U15 – to get two Rhodes Scholars is extraordinary and needs to be celebrated,” said Stoicheff, who is completing his final year as chair of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities in 2025. “You are celebrating the fact that our students are as exceptionally good as any students anywhere in the country. So congratulations to the students and also kudos to the many faculty and staff here who work hard to ensure that those nominations are generated, because that is a lot of work, and you have to be deliberate about it. You are not going to get Rhodes Scholarships if a whole lot of people are not doing the necessary work behind the scenes to ensure that our students are being seen and recognized.

“And I think citizens of this province should be proud of the fact that their taxes go towards the operations of this university and one of the results of that is excellence on the research side, which has an impact on the province and a return on investment, but also excellence on the domestic student side to be eligible for a Rhodes Scholarship in Canada. So it’s pretty extraordinary.”

From artificial intelligence and quantum science to pandemic preparation and the front-line fight against infectious diseases at VIDO, USask researchers are on the leading edge of development. USask also has a 70-history of nuclear research and development, from the first team to successfully treat cancer patients with colbalt-60 radiation therapy in the 1950s to today producing medical isotopes for research and diagnosis.

In 2024, USask also renewed research into nuclear power – supporting by provincial and federal initiatives – with new MOU agreements and funding, led by The Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation on campus. Among the new initiatives are grants for research in small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and being selected to host the Canadian National Nuclear Energy Management School in May, in co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“I think renewed is a great way to put it,” said Stoicheff. “We have had a lot of expertise over the years in nuclear research and not just for the purposes of nuclear power and energy, although that is becoming increasingly important as an energy alternative. It’s also for all the medical work that goes on here. So I am glad to see that is happening, and engineering is a part of that, but it is a very multidisciplinary area of work. It moves from public policy through public health, through medicine, through veterinary medicine, through the School of Environment and Sustainability. We have many different perspectives on all of the issues and opportunities involved. So I think it’s an example of a university deliberately positioning itself to be of service for things that are important to people.”

USask contributes an annual economic impact of $1.8 billion, as measured by GDP, and is one of the leading employers in the City of Saskatoon and the Province of Saskatchewan, with more than 7,000 faculty and staff. Over the past decade, the university has also reversed a troubling trend, with 70 per cent of USask graduates now choosing to remain in Saskatchewan and contributing to the productivity of the province. Stoicheff said the university also identifies ways to support government priorities with programming, everything from nursing and medicine to driving business innovation and collaboration.

“There is an economic impact, but there is a social impact as well, and I think that we don’t even know how to properly assess our economic impact,” said Stoicheff. “You take VIDO, for instance, when you look at the fact that it has developed and patented vaccines that have saved the pork industry, that is a multi-billion dollar provincial and Canadian industry. And when you look at the Crop Development Centre having created 500 crop varieties over the last 52 years of existence, the financial or economic impact of that is actually incalculable. So our economic impact far exceeds any number that we can put on it. But even more important is the social impact of what we contribute to the province.”

While some provinces are experiencing budget freezes and reductions in the post-secondary sector, Stoicheff said Saskatchewan remains a strong supporter of the university sector and works to provide consistent funding.

“The four-year MOU that we are in the process of discussing with the now-newly elected government with a new Minister of Advanced Education, is a model for the country,” said Stoicheff. “I don’t think there is another post-secondary sector in any province where the government has said let’s work on a four-year agreement that gives you predictability and gives your students predictability and does include tuition caps but not tuition freezes, and allows you to budget accordingly. So we have to recognize that this is a government that does understand the value proposition of the post-secondary sector in this province.”

One area of concern for USask and across the country is the federal government’s decision to reduce international student visas by 33 per cent, designed to increase housing availability. However, with international undergraduate and graduate students paying significantly more in tuition, the cap on students from outside the country has created significant budget challenges at post-secondary institutions across Canada, and also impacts campus culture and future international expertise that benefits industry.

“My thoughts are primarily not on the financial side, although there is going to be a negative effect and we’re still calculating what that will be,” said Stoicheff. “But (the federal government) also included the field of study detail that says that you need to be giving these (study permits) to students who are going to be enrolling in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields, which is another undeserved blow to the social sciences and the humanities and the fine arts, as if they don’t contribute to the most important things that we need to educate people for, whereas they do.”

While USask isn’t exposed to as much financial risk as some institutions – with university enrolment remaining stable at record levels – Stoicheff said there is no doubt that the impact of the cap will affect the university’s bottom line, as well as its ability to recruit internationally.

“About 12 per cent of our student population is international and that’s significant, but I don’t measure this exclusively in financial terms because everybody knows that having lots of international students also enriches our campus communities immeasurably,” said Stoicheff. “And circling back to our research strength, a lot of that would not have been possible had we not had wonderful international students, post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduate students, let alone faculty members, some of whom who were international students here to begin with.”

As he begins his final year as president in 2025, Stoicheff said he is proud of the progress made at USask during his term, and looks forward to concluding the comprehensive campaign in style in June. Stoicheff, whose term concludes in December, has been speaking with donors and supporters from near and far, meeting with members of the university’s 175,000-strong alumni family from 130 countries around the world, and celebrating their achievements and attachment to their alma mater.

New support for the university has ranged from multimillion dollar donations from corporations and individuals to smaller contributions from more than 400 supporters who together raised $320,000 during the annual Giving Day, to gifts in kind like the three Pablo Picasso prints added in June to the six Picasso linocuts originally donated by Dr. Frederick Mulder (PhD). For Stoicheff, the gifts both large and small signal that the university’s supporters believe USask is indeed on the right track.

“This university is a huge contributor and people who are working with it, or who have graduated from it, are feeling very proud of their connection to it,” said Stoicheff, noting the standing ovation received by the university’s Greystone Singers and Aurora Voce alumni choir at Carnegie Hall in New York last spring as one of the many memorable moments of the year. “I meet with thousands of alumni each year across Canada and the United States and internationally, and I can feel that pride. At a time when people are at times questioning the value of universities, I think the value of this university is highly regarded, and that is what I am most proud of.”