Calgary's DeVry campus to close in July

The DeVry Institute of Technology is closing its Calgary campus and going completely online starting in July.

The school says it will end all on-campus classes at the end of June.

Ranil Herath, president of DeVry in Calgary, says it will make for a better student experience.

"What would be best from a learning outcomes point is to really shift to an online delivery where the student class sizes are between 20 to 30 and also these students will be in a much more robust discussion and group work environment," he said. 

More than half of DeVry students study completely online already, and there are 180 on-site students who take half of their courses online.

But one student told CBC News he only found out on Thursday that the campus was closing after his instructor let the class read an email from DeVry's president.

"Seems a little impersonal, and it seems really unfair to me — the faculty, instructors and other employees that work for DeVry, everybody's affected," said Christopher Cook.

35 faculty, staff members to lose jobs

While some students say they didn't get enough notice, Herath says that isn't the case.

"We have five months before the change comes into effect, so that's a fairly long period of time," he said.

"From now until then ... there are three times that the sessions will change in the DeVry calendar, so that's a fairly reasonable notice period."

Herath is one of the 35 faculty and staff who will lose their jobs.

DeVry says for the last four years its on-site enrolment has been steadily dropping, but its online population is growing.

The closure will affect about 100 students who are in the middle of their programs. They can either switch to online learning or transfer to another DeVry campus in the U.S., or a different school in the province.