Established in 2011, the Alliance of Canadian Comprehensive Research Universities (ACCRU) brings together small- and medium-sized comprehensive universities from across Canada. ACCRU is not intended to serve as a lobbying group. Instead, it strives to be the voice to discuss the challenges and issues that smaller universities face. By acting as a collaborative whole, ACCRU is able to accomplish the following objectives:
- Identify best practices to enable the most effective execution of research at ACCRU member universities;
- Identify and encourage collaborative research initiatives amongst its members and other research institutions, nationally and internationally;
- Enable its members to respond to new research opportunities and developments in a coordinated and timely fashion; and,
- Act as a voice for communications on research and scholarly activity issues important to its members with research funding agencies, policy makers, and the public at large.