The Saskatoon Theological Union (STU) is a federation of three theological colleges (St. Andrew’s College, Lutheran Theological College, and the College of Emmanuel & St. Chad) all located on the University of Saskatchewan campus, and was formed to facilitate cooperative and ecumenical approach to the task of theological education. While remaining distinct and separate institutions, the three member colleges share their resources in significant ways.
The STU is just the latest stage in a long tradition of cooperation among the three colleges. In 1969 the three institutions pooled their resources to create the Graduate School of Theology (later known as the Graduate Studies Council at Saskatoon), whose aim was to provide a program of post-graduate theological studies leading to the degree Master of Sacred Theology (STM). In 1981, a computerized union catalogue was introduced, providing for the first time a regularly updated listing of the holdings of the three libraries. In the academic year 1985-86, the decision was taken to issue a common calendar under the name Saskatoon Theological Union. In 1997, the Boards of the three schools voted to explore closer working relationships. A strategic Planning Committee with representation from all three Boards began to meet to look at possibilities of joint space, joint staffing, and joint programming.
The present STU framework allows for the course offerings of all three colleges to be available to students enrolled in any of the member institutions. Attempts are made to coordinate course offerings in each of the areas of study, and in some instances, courses are jointly offered by professors from more than one college. 6 The functioning of the STU is maintained by means of regular meetings of the faculty members of the three colleges, supplemented by meetings of more specialized groups – the heads of colleges, the registrars, the subject-area “section” (Biblical Studies; Church History and Historical Theology; Systematic Theology, Ethics and Church and Society; Pastoral Theology), and other ad hoc committees. The Graduate Studies Program is supervised by the Director, in conjunction with the Graduate Studies Council (comprised of the faculty members of all three colleges).