Kwantlen Polytechnic University closed all five of its campuses following an "unsubstantiated threat" Wednesday morning.
The university says Surrey RCMP alerted it that a threat had been made.
"Out of an abundance of caution and with the highest regard for the safety and security of our students and employees, KPU is evacuating all buildings immediately and closing all five of its campuses for the remainder of the day," the university said in a statement.
The university says all campuses will open as usual on Thursday.
Surrey RCMP said they received a report at about 9 a.m. but no campus was specified.
"We notified the university and consulted with them, and out of an abundance of caution the decision was made to close all their locations while police investigated to ensure those locations were safe," said Cpl. Elenore Sturko, with Surrey RCMP.
Sturko won't say how the threat was communicated to police, or what the person said would happen.
"I'm not going to go into what exactly was the substance of the threat, but I can say we took that threat seriously," she said.
Police say they cleared all five campuses and investigated with the assistance of the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Services, the Explosive Devices Unit and Metro Vancouver Transit Police.
Staff say students and staff were still in buildings when the evacuation notice came, and students were also informed of the closures via email.
"The email wasn't that clear," said Tanu Breet, a student attending the first day of a sociology class.
"Everybody was surprised by what was going on."
All classes at all campuses have been cancelled for the rest of the day and buildings at all five campuses will remain closed.
Surrey RCMP is asking anyone with any information to contact them at 604-599-0502 or to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
