NEW HIGH-TECH SCHOOL TO OPEN CAMPUS IN VALLEY BY 1998.

Byline: Carolyn R. Saraspi Daily News Staff Writer

Strong interest from San Fernando Valley residents and the area's high-technology base are the main reasons DeVry Institute chose West Hills as the site for its newest campus, officials with the Chicago-based school say.

The DeVry Institute of Technology has obtained 15 acres of the 86-acre site once owned by Hughes Aircraft Co. near Roscoe Boulevard and Fallbrook Avenue, and plans to open a campus serving 2,700 students in 1998.

The campus will feature a two-story, 100,000-square-foot building, and will relieve pressure on existing DeVry schools, said Rose Marie Dishman, president of DeVry's Los Angeles-area campuses.

Many of the students now attending DeVry's Long Beach and Pomona schools are from the Valley, Dishman noted.

``We get a lot of inquiries (from people who) do not want to make the commute,'' Dishman said. ``That was one of the reasons we were interested. We'll have a nice synergy with the campus being (in West Hills), too.''

Because of defense industry downsizing, which contributed to Hughes' departure, DeVry expects that many of its students will be former defense and military personnel who are seeking retraining for jobs in the booming multimedia and telecommunications industries.

``Our curriculum trains for current employment trends, where the world is going in telecommunications and computers - these are rapidly changing fields,'' Dishman said. ``Things are not where they were five years ago.''

The new DeVry campus will bring 200 to 300 full- and part-time teaching, administrative and student jobs to the area, ``but it won't be in the same numbers as the aerospace industry,'' Dishman said.

Founded in 1931, the 13 DeVry Institutes in North America fulfill a ``particular niche in the education market'' by offering challenging high-technology degree programs, Dishman said. She said that students tend to be older than their counterparts at other colleges.

DeVry offers five bachelor degrees and one associate degree in fields such as information systems, telecommunications management and accounting.

The institutes are fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the same body that evaluates Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, noted Cathy Klepack, a spokeswoman for DeVry Inc., the holding company that operates the schools.

``There's nothing wrong with football teams, sororities and fraternities, (but) we don't offer that because there's a typical kind of student that doesn't want all that. (DeVry students) are very focused on getting (their education) done,'' Klepack said.

The institutes attract high school graduates, between ages 28 and 30 on average, who typically come from blue-collar families and are the first to attend college, Klepack said.

Students pay $6,600 per term and can attend school year-round at any campus, which makes it easier to schedule classes around work and family responsibilities, Dishman said.

A Los Angeles police emergency dispatch center and a $25 million business park also are planned for construction at the old Hughes site. Coast Federal Bank moved its headquarters to the 86-acre property a few years ago.