Covista

DeVry Inc. was created in 1987 with the merger of DeVry Institute of Technology (DIT) and the Keller Graduate School of Management. DIT was established in Chicago as the DeForest Training School in 1931 and was acquired by Bell & Howell in 1967. Keller was started by two DIT teachers in 1973; the company acquired DIT from Bell & Howell in 1987. DeVry Inc. went public in 1991, moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1995, and became known as DeVry Education Group in 2013. The company was previously based in Downers Grove, Illinois.

In 2012, the company moved 150 jobs from its campus in Roscoe Village to a new office in Chicago's West Loop. The company had additional offices in Oak Brook, as of 2013. In 2015, the company opened another office in the West Loop, after the city approved a $1 million subsidy for the company in the form of tax increment financing in 2012.

In November 2013, DeVry Inc. was renamed DeVry Education Group.

Adtalem agreed to purchase Walden University for approximately $1.5 billion in September 2020. The agreement required approval by the U.S. Department of Education and the Higher Learning Commission. When the deal closed in August 2021, Adtalem became the largest provider of graduate and undergraduate degrees in nursing.

Rebranding from DeVry Education Group to Adtalem Global Education

Following a $100 million settlement with the FTC in 2016 regarding deceptive advertising, DeVry Education Group rebranded as Adtalem Global Education in 2017 and began the process to sell off DeVry University and Keller Graduate School of Management later that year. Industry analysts characterized the move as an effort to move on from DeVry's legal, financial and reputational challenges.

The company's headquarters were later relocated from Downers Grove to 500 West Monroe Street in the West Loop Gate. In 2024, Crain's Chicago Business said Adtalem had become "the largest health care educator in the nation during a post-COVID period in which the health care sector has faced severe labor shortages".

Campuses and enrollment

Adtalem's institutions operated approximately 130 campuses globally in 2018. Twelve of the 90 U.S. campuses were located in Illinois. In 2020, Adtalem's businesses operated 26 campuses in four countries and fifteen U.S. states. Approximately 90,000 students attended schools with a combined 6,100 faculty members. As of 2021, approximately 82 percent of the 140,000 students enrolled at Adtalem schools learned via distance education. In 2022, Adtalem operated 27 campuses and offered courses in 209 countries and territories.

In 2026, Covista and Advocate Health partnered to create a pipeline to place nursing graduates in the latter's hospitals. The collaboration is focused on Chamberlain University and seeks to address the nation's nursing shortage.

Leadership

Stephen Beard, who was previously Adtalem's chief operating officer, became the chief executive officer (CEO) in 2021. He was appointed the chair of the board of directors in November 2024, succeeding Michael W. Malafronte. Beard was included in Time magazine's 2025 "Time100 Health" list of influential people in the healthcare industry.

Chris Begley was the board chair in 2016. Daniel Hamburger and Lisa Wardell have previously held the CEO role. Wardell was appointed in 2016. She was the only Black woman to lead a Fortune 1000 company in 2018, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Wardell was also the board chair in 2019. In 2021, an analysis by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ranked Adtalem in the top five Illinois-based public firms for both gender and racial diversity on the board.

Controversies

Covista, formerly known as DeVry Education Group, has been the subject of numerous investigations and lawsuits alleging that a variety of false or deceptive practices. While the group has generally denied the allegations, several cases led to multi-million dollar settlements.

In December 2016, DeVry Education Group agreed to a $100 million settlement of a lawsuit regarding deceptive advertising filed by the U.S Federal Trade Commission. Under the settlement, the group agreed to pay $49.4 million in cash to students and forgive $50.6 million in loans to students.

Months after the FTC settlement, DeVry Education Group rebranded as Adtalem Global Education in May 2018. Adtalem rebranded as Covista in 2026.

For-profit higher education in the United States has been the subject of hearings by the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Specifically regarding DeVry, the Committee found that over half of the students enrolled at DeVry in 2008-2009 withdrew by mid-2010. As of 2015, DeVry spent more on marketing than on student instruction.

As of 2013, DeVry Inc. was under investigation by the Attorneys General of the states of Illinois and Massachusetts.

In 2014, accumulated student loan debt from DeVry University and Keller, its graduate school, had reached approximately $12.1 billion.