Canadian students want clearer communication, more certainty from universities

For international student Abigia Debebe, who moved to Calgary from Ethiopia in August 2021, studying in a new country has been a "gloomy" experience. She was initially supposed to attend courses in-person, but then some of her classes moved online, which meant a semester of lonely lectures watched from her dorm room. 

In late December, the 19-year-old University of Calgary computer science major learned via email that would continue, with courses delivered completely virtually until the end of January. 

Then Friday, the school pushed that date back again — with in-person classes now scheduled to start Feb. 28.

Debebe says she understands that universities and their administration are under immense pressure, given the unpredictability of the pandemic.

"But I believe that's part of the job. It's to look forward, to weigh the risks and to come up with the best solution that you can on time."

The Omicron-fuelled wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations has thrown Canadian universities and their students for a loop: while many schools were optimistic about an in-person start to the semester this month, the pandemic's sudden turn has forced them back to square one, shifting classes back online.

But students are agitated and frustrated by what they see as dithering on the part of the school.

In a lengthy statement to CBC News, the University of Calgary said that the school has had to make decisions "based on the fluid and changing local and global dynamics of the COVID-19 situation." It said that it has communicated with the community regularly "to allow for as much notice as possible."

The pandemic hit just as Jayani Patel, now a third-year English student, was finishing her first year at Ryerson University in Toronto. Her classes have been completely online since then, she said. Until the university announced mid-December that courses would be held online until Jan. 30 to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, she was ready to go back in person.

"I was ready for a fresh start," Patel said. Now, she would rather the semester be taught online from start to finish — and that school be in-person next year, so that students like her can enjoy a clean slate. She hopes to celebrate her college graduation with peers, family and friends.

The school announced in October that it was planning a "significant increase" in on-campus activity at the start of the new semester, indicating to students that the majority of classes would be held in-person. But in December, Ontario's healthcare system was hit by the Omicron wave, and Ryerson said that it would instead take a measured approach, which includes conducting classes online from Jan. 7 until at least the 31st.

For Patel, the back-and-forth communication from the school has felt akin to being in "limbo, figuring out whether or not we'll actually be able to learn in-person," she explained.

Ryerson did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News by deadline.

"I really feel for people who have to go through this for the first time, or even the second time," said Amin Montazeri, an international student from Iran. Now in his fifth year at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Montazeri said that the Winter 2020 semester was a "nightmare."