Plan Vision
Turning Capacity into Impact: Powering Student Voice, Building Community, and Leading Change
WUSA has built real strength—growing its team, expanding services, and advancing systems and spaces to support our members with greater depth and reach. With this capacity in place, the next chapter is about elevating its impact: translating operational strength into student-driven influence and outcomes.
As the post-secondary sector undergoes disruption, and students face increasing complexity, WUSA must become a platform where members shape their own future. This means stepping forward as an advocate, a community builder, and a trusted voice on what students need to thrive. It means creating space for student leadership, amplifying diverse perspectives, and ensuring students are at the table—defining the decisions that shape their lives.
This marks a shift: from delivery to direction, from reaction to leadership, and from working behind the scenes to centering student voices in what comes next.
At a Glance
Our 2025–26 Annual Plan is in development. Stay tuned for updates.
Powering Student Voice, Building Community, and Leading Change
Better Understand What Students Need—And Be Known For It
This objective is about more than gathering data—it’s about becoming the go-to source for understanding student life at Waterloo.
WUSA will deepen its insight into the evolving needs of our members, while also formalizing its role as the expert on student experience. Through strengthened feedback systems, internal knowledge-sharing, and a renegotiated operating agreement with the university, WUSA will not only serve students better—it will be recognized for doing so.
This work positions WUSA to lead with credibility, inform institutional decisions, and build stronger accountability between the university and its students.
Strengthen Student Trust, Voice, And Impact In WUSA
Trust and transparency are preconditions for collective impact. This objective focuses on building deeper relationships between WUSA and students—rooted in openness, representation, and shared purpose. WUSA aims to be an organization that students trust to reflect their needs, include their voices, and act in their interest. This includes intentional steps to advance Indigenization on campus by ensuring Indigenous students are represented, included, and heard across WUSA’s systems, structures, and services. A thriving culture of dialogue, participation, and critical engagement will anchor this work.
Revitalize Social Life And Belonging At Waterloo
This objective is about creating a more connected, joyful, and inclusive student experience—one where people have reasons to show up, stay engaged, and build lasting memories. It includes redesigning spaces and events to prioritize community, investing in student-led groups and initiatives, and making it easier for everyone to find their place. Social life at Waterloo should feel vibrant, safe, and welcoming, with WUSA as a key builder of culture and belonging across all campuses.
Strengthen Operational Monitoring And Student-Focused Partnerships
This objective is about ensuring WUSA’s operations deliver real value to members—not just as customers, but as co-creators and partners. It includes monitoring performance across student-serving enterprises, listening to student feedback, and refining services to meet evolving needs. At the same time, it opens the door for new models—like student-run co-ops and innovative partnerships—that prioritize community wellbeing, access, and experience. This is about running businesses with students, not just for them.
Be A Place People Are Proud To Work
This objective is about creating a healthy, supportive, and growth-oriented work environment at WUSA—one where staff at all levels feel valued, respected, and invested in. It includes building clear pathways for development, managing workloads with care, and supporting part-time staff in envisioning long-term careers within the organization. When WUSA is a place people are proud to work, it strengthens not only the team, but the culture that supports students every day.
Advocate For The Collective Interests Of Students
This objective is about elevating WUSA’s advocacy from responsive to strategic—shaping policies, systems, and narratives that impact the student experience. It recognizes that advocacy is both what WUSA does and how it leads: making student needs visible, influencing decisions across sectors, and leveraging its collective voice to push for change. It also includes strengthening internal capacity—developing the skills, systems, and credibility needed to lead advocacy efforts confidently and sustainably.
WUSA’s Advocacy Priorities
WUSA remains committed to gathering timely and nuanced input from members to guide our ongoing efforts in these categories. Part of the work of the Advocacy Department is to build annual advocacy plans based on this ongoing input.
While here we highlight only four advocacy themes, this is by no means an exhaustive list. These are among the most frequent we hear, which for us makes them some of the most meaningful to address.
Based on input from members we have identified four Broad Categories for our Advocacy Efforts moving forward:
WUSA’s Advocacy Priorities
WUSA remains committed to gathering timely and nuanced input from members to guide our ongoing efforts in these categories. Part of the work of the Advocacy Department is to build annual advocacy plans based on this ongoing input.
While here we highlight only four advocacy themes, this is by no means an exhaustive list. These are among the most frequent we hear, which for us makes them some of the most meaningful to address.
Based on input from members we have identified four Broad Categories for our Advocacy Efforts moving forward:
- 1Affordability and Cost of Living, including; Housing and Food Insecurity
- 2Co-op and Employment
- 3Mental Health and Wellness
- 4Academics/Quality of Education including; Academic Fairness