Sask. Polytechnic students in ‘complete shock’ over program relocation

Halfway through their post-secondary program, Saskatchewan Polytechnic students are being told they’ll have to relocate from Saskatoon to Regina if they want to graduate or abandon their studies.

Timothy Carlow, a first-year student in the electronic systems engineering technology (ESET) program, says he learned two weeks ago in an email from Saskatchewan Polytechnic that his program is being abruptly relocated.

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“This came as a complete shock to all of us,” Carlow said, speaking at the Saskatchewan NDP office in Saskatoon’s Riversdale neighbourhood.

“We signed up for this program because it is in Saskatoon. It’s only ever been offered in Saskatoon, and we would like the opportunity to finish it here in Saskatoon with the instructors that we have gotten to know along the way,” Carlow said.

The ESET program is a three-year diploma program that, until now, has been offered at the Saskatchewan Polytechnic campus in Saskatoon on Idylwyld Drive. The school’s website promotes the course by touting a significant potential job market due to how pervasive electronic systems are today, in everything from computers and robots to phones and surveillance systems.

It’s a hands-on program that takes five academic semesters and three mandatory, paid co-operative education work terms.

According to the Saskatchewan Polytechnic website, the program has been suspended for the 2026-27 academic school year.

The email students received on Jan. 29 from Shannon Smith, executive assistant to Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Brenda Suru, dean of the faculty of technology and skilled trades, stated “the decision is part of our preparation for significant program changes that will be implemented the following year.”

Carlow said students have responded to the news by sharing their concerns about the relocation of the program and how it will disrupt their lives and the plans students have already made in order to attend the program in Saskatoon. Carlow, himself, already relocated to Saskatoon from B.C. and bought a house in Saskatchewan to comfortably enrol in the program.

With help from the student association, Carlow said students in the program were able to get a formal meeting with the school to discuss the program’s relocation.

For fellow first-year ESET student and former music professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Alex Loewen, this news has major consequences. He has a home in Saskatoon, his wife has established her career in the city and they have two children under the age of 10.

“I don’t think I could leave my family for the sake of a year of education, especially at the ages of six and eight,” Loewen said.

This is Loewen’s third post-secondary degree. Budget concerns in his previous jobs have forced layoffs and he began the ESET program, hoping it would be a solution for someone in their late 30s seeking reliable work. He expected that the program would be in Saskatoon for the duration of his studies.

“Apparently that is not the plan anymore, so now I have to choose between finishing my education and staying with my family,” he said.

Due to the hands-on nature of the program, online education isn’t feasible for students, leaving very few choices for students if they’d like to continue their education in the program.

Students petition to keep program

In an open letter to Saskatchewan Premier, Scott Moe, students in the ESET program called the sudden relocation “unprecedented,” saying many students will be forced to withdraw from the program for financial and family reasons. On Feb. 10, students met with Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s vice dean and academic chair, according to the letter.

“Many students are young and are only able to afford this education by living at home. Others have young families that cannot simply be abandoned for a year,” the letter read.

It also details that students enrolled in the Instrumentation Engineering Technology program in Moose Jaw will be relocating to Saskatoon and instructors with the ESET program were given limited time to decide whether they would relocate to Regina from Saskatoon to keep their positions.

“All told, this represents between 80 to 100 students unable to finish their respective programs in the location they started (as verified in yesterday’s meeting). We were also told that this decision was a direct result of a mandate from the provincial government, but the Vice Dean and Academic Chair became very cagey about details when asked further,” the letter detailed.

“This relocation is a betrayal of the expectations any student would reasonably have when starting an academic program and the ESET students have been lied to about this plan at each step,” the letter continued. “I can’t see how Sask. Polytech could expect prospective students to trust that this wouldn’t happen again.”

Assigning blame

The Saskatchewan NDP are blaming Government of Saskatchewan funding cuts for this upset in the education of Saskatchewan students.

“Dozens of students are being forced to up and move because of Scott Moe’s failure to properly fund post secondary education,” said Kim Breckner, trade and export development critic. “This means that students are now scrambling to sort out financial assistance and family arrangements without warning.

“This is not how a healthy post secondary sector or competent government should function,” Breckner said.

When asked, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Advanced Education shared a statement, attributing these “difficult decisions” to changes the federal government has made to the International Student Program, which he said has reduced student enrolment.

He said Saskatchewan Polytechnic is not alone and other post-secondary institutions are having to make changes, as well.

“The Government of Saskatchewan continues to advocate on behalf of post-secondary institutions to the federal government on this issue, and while these discussions continue, our extended multiyear funding agreement provides additional operating support and stability for institutions moving forward,” Ken Cheveldayoff said in his statement.

Disheartening moves

The president of the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Students’ Association, Rossby James, called this a time of distress for Sask. Polytechnic as well as its students.

“Everybody is losing and everybody’s losing their peace as well,” James said.

She said the students association is advocating for the students who are being asked to move campuses, but “losing teachers who have spent a lot of years with the students, building programs and walking through the academic journey of the students, it’s very disheartening to see them go.”

James said she knows the school isn’t happy to see the staff go either.

“This is a situation where whatever the business needs are, they have to make that call, even if it is pleasing or not. But at the same time, we are losing really good, talented, skilled teachers, instructors and also students,” she said.

James said the problems could be fixed with more funding, and said she was pleading for the provincial government to step in to stop the cuts.

– With files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and Lisa Schick and 650 CKOM’s Marija Robinson