On March 4, U of T Engineering released its new Strategic Academic Plan, 2026–2031. The document sets out the faculty’s goals and priorities for the next five years.

Engineering Strategic Communications sat down with Dean Chris Yip to find out more about then plan and what it will mean for the U of T Engineering community.

How did this plan come together?

The heavy lifting was done by Professor Heather MacLean (CivMin), our Vice-Dean, Strategic, as well the Strategic Academic Plan Steering Committee. I’m grateful for their hard work on this project.

Consultation has been an important part of this process. We talked to our students, professors, staff, alumni, units across U of T and of course the many organizations that partner with us. We identified what makes U of T Engineering special, and what makes it stand out in a globally competitive marketplace for engineering education and research.

We’re leaning into our strengths, but we’re also pushing ourselves to the next level. We know the world is changing fast, with socio-economic pressures, evolving models of education and growing demands in areas like AI and cybersecurity. Those could be viewed as obstacles, but we see them as opportunities.

Our mission is to be a global leader, convener ​and partner of choice in advancing transdisciplinary engineering research, ​innovation and education.

The strategic academic plan is built around four pillars that are closely interconnected. Can you walk us through each? Let’s start with the first one: Educating adaptive thinkers to address complex challenges.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that we can’t always predict what challenges will arise. What we do know is that these challenges — pandemics, climate change, effectively deploying AI — don’t confine themselves to any one sector, domain or area of expertise.

We are dedicated to cultivating adaptable, globally minded engineers who collaborate across and within disciplines to address complex ​societal challenges. That means prioritizing skills like leadership, career readiness and global perspectives.

It also means hands-on experiences from day one, and throughout all years of study: design courses, capstone projects and programs such as the Professional Experience Year Co-op, which is already one of the largest of its kind in Canada.

I really believe that engineering is for everyone, and I want everyone to be able to see themselves in what we do.

Research Excellence

We’re already producing world-class research. From next-generation autonomous vehicles to new medical treatments to greener infrastructure, I can’t help but be blown away by the work our students and professors are publishing.

Our researchers will continue to have unparalleled access to multidisciplinary research centres, industry partnerships and collaborative programs.  We also plan to modernize our research infrastructure and streamline support for new initiatives. All this will enhance our research excellence, innovation and impact.

Community, collaboration and resilience

I said before that I truly believe engineering is for everyone, but the fact is that if you look at our profession today, it still doesn’t reflect the full diversity of the societies we serve.

We’ve made progress — our student body is now about 40% women across the board — but we have to keep going. We’re going to continue advancing the integration of equity, diversity and inclusion across our academic programs, practices, policies and infrastructure.

That includes strengthening connections between Indigenous knowledge systems and engineering education, and also supporting community well-being and professional growth for our students, staff and faculty.

Building transformative partnerships

Strategic partnerships enable us to address the really big, complex challenges of our time. Our industry partners get early access to student talent, and to the expertise that our professors have been accruing over their long and distinguished careers. This enables them to develop innovative solutions that they couldn’t necessarily achieve on their own.

In return, our undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to work on real products and challenges that will make an impact in industry. It’s a fantastic way to apply and consolidate what they’ve learned in their courses.

Many of these partnerships also have an international component, creating opportunities for our community members to gain the global perspectives that are so crucial to engineering.

But most importantly, partnerships help us see that engineering is a human discipline. Whenever you design a new tool, technology or approach, you need to start with the end users in mind. If it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t work, period.

We are going to strengthen the partnership pathways we already have — research collaborations, co-location opportunities in our Engineering Partnerships Office, exchanges, Master of Engineering Co-op — and build new ones. This will enhance the global network of partners we already have and increase the impact of our work.

That’s a long list. How are you feeling about it?

Incredibly optimistic. I’ve experienced the U of T Engineering community as a student, a professor and now as Dean, and I’ve never stopped being impressed with the quality of our people. It’s a community that is truly unique, and indeed stretches all over the world — more than 60,000 alumni in almost any country you could name.

We have a strong track record: Times Higher Education ranked U of T 14th in the world for graduate employability last year. Add to that our global reputation as Canada’s #1 engineering school and among the best worldwide and you’ve got a network that opens doors everywhere.

Our vision for the future is ambitious, but I have faith in the ability of this amazing community to bring about lasting, positive change.