University students given a month to leave Canada

MONTREAL — Saudi students in Canadian universities have been given four weeks to pack their bags and leave the country, two senior university officials said Tuesday.

Universities across the country were scrambling to get information after Saudi Arabia suspended scholarships to Canada.

University of Toronto vice-provost Joseph Wong said Saudi students have received notification telling them that they have a month to finish their studies and leave Canada.

“I understand this is what is being circulated to students,” Wong said. “I have never heard of anything like this before.”

Media reports suggested Saudi Arabia would cancel scholarships for more than 15,000 students currently attending school in Canada.

Wong pointed out that Universities Canada, a consortium of the country’s universities and colleges, has expressed its concerns to Ottawa.

His university has 77 undergraduate and graduate students from Saudi Arabia, both new and returning, for the 2018-2019 school year.

It also has 216 medical residents and fellows from Saudi Arabia who are being trained in hospitals affiliated with the university under a long-standing program.

In Saskatchewan, another university official also mentioned the four-week deadline that more than 150 Saudi students at the University of Regina are facing.

“The students have been asked by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to continue their studies if they are registered in the spring and summer session, but to deregister or cancel their registration for the fall of 2018 and to leave Canada within four weeks of the departure of the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh,” said Livia Castellanos, the university’s associate vice-president (international).

Castellanos said she “has never seen something like this. I’m very surprised that this decision has been made so quickly ... They will not be travelling home with a degree, or with a master’s degree or a PhD.”

Castellanos said the university found out from students who are being sponsored by their families that they also are being asked to leave Canada.

“I think the students are in shock right now … they haven’t really understood what will happen and what their next steps are,” she added.

York University said 115 Saudi students are currently enrolled there. It said that the university’s immediate focus will be to support its students.

Also Tuesday, the gulf between Ottawa and Saudi Arabia widened to encompass travel as the state airline announced it was suspending operations in Canada.

“All Saudia flights from/to Toronto, Canada will be suspended starting from 13 Aug 2018,” the airline wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.

Castellanos said that would make it even more difficult for the students to leave.