SEMO SENDS NITZSCHKE ON TRIPS ABROAD

Southeast Missouri State University President Dr. Dale Nitzschke can be excused if he keeps his bags packed.

It isn't that the board of regents is ready to fire him. The regents are actually more than happy to send him packing to foreign locales as part of the university's effort to recruit international students.

Nitzschke recently traveled to Europe for 16 days as part of the effort to recruit international students to come to Southeast and promote faculty and student exchanges.

The Oct. 18-Nov. 2 trip included stops in Lugano in Switzerland, Rome and London.

He returned to the Cape Girardeau campus for only a few days before heading out on another recruiting trip.

He and his wife, Linda, left Saturday for a trip to Brazil. They were accompanied on the trip by Dr. Joe Low, a longtime Southeast speech professor.

The meeting of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education runs through Thursday in the Atlantic Coast city of Salvador, Brazil. Salvador is a city of about 1.5 million.

About 250 to 300 presidents of U.S. and Latin American colleges were expected to attend the meeting.

Nitzschke said it is a good opportunity to push for faculty and student exchanges with Latin American schools.

Southeast has a number of exchanges in mind, including ones for mass communication, theatrical set design and environment geology.

The European and Brazilian trips will cost Southeast more than $10,000, Nitzschke said.

But both he and the head of Southeast's board of regents, Cape Girardeau lawyer Don Dickerson, said it is a good investment for the school.

"I think we need to do it. It is important to us," said Dickerson.

Nitzschke is slated to travel to Japan and Korea in early April. He will be accompanied by Jesse Perry, who heads up the intensive English program for international students seeking to enroll at Southeast.

Cost of that trip hasn't been calculated yet because the itinerary is still being put together, Nitzschke said.

The European trip cost $6,289, including $3,012 for air fare and ground transportation and $3,277 for registration for various conferences and living accommodations, Nitzschke said.

The cost to send Nitzschke and his wife to Brazil is about $3,289, including $2,560 for air fare.

Nitzschke said Low is paying his own air fare, but the university will pick up his registration and hotel expenses.

Nitzschke estimated that would amount to about $700, bringing the total cost of the Brazilian trip to nearly $4,000.

He said he is taking his wife to Brazil because he has discovered from experience that most "positive outcomes" for a university begin in either receptions or formal or informal meetings over lunch or dinner.

"An unaccompanied male, I can assure you, finds it very difficult to traverse that terrain and gain entrance with couples from other institutions with whom those discussions are paramount," Nitzschke said.

Nitzschke said he was hired by the regents last year partly with the understanding that he would work to boost international and minority student enrollment.

As part of that effort, he has made use of his various contacts, particularly those he has made in the Arab world as a member of the Middle Eastern Policy Council in Washington. It is headed by former U.S. Sen. George McGovern.

With that group, he has traveled to the Middle East and met with King Hussein of Jordan in the king's castle and had breakfast with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

His friendship with a high-ranking Saudi embassy official in Washington paid student recruiting dividends when Nitzschke was president of other universities.

Thanks to that friendship, Nitzschke said he expects a number of Saudi students will come to Southeast.

Nitzschke said his travels abroad are necessary if the school is to boost international enrollment. But he said his trips aren't junkets.

He said he doesn't enjoy flying all over the globe and plans to let others carry the ball at Southeast next year.

To that end, Nitzschke plans to restructure the university's international program. An interim director is expected to be hired by January, with a full-time director slated to come on board in July.

Nitzschke said the university's current international program is too decentralized. Foreign students often don't know where to turn for assistance on campus, he said.

He said a more centralized program will be put in place and the university will make better use of host families in the area.

Southeast has about 240 international students, down about 100 from a high of 338 in 1992.

Nitzschke said recruiting more international students makes sense both financially and academically.

Typically, international students don't get scholarships. They pay the full price of out-of-state admission.

"It is a big revenue source for us," Nitzschke said late last week as he prepared to travel to Brazil.

Southeast estimates it has lost more than $1 million in student fees because of the combined drop in minority and international student enrollment over the past six years.

Southeast also benefits academically by exposing American students to different cultures, he said.

Such exchanges are increasingly important in today's global society, both Nitzschke and Dickerson said.

Businesses market themselves overseas and colleges must do the same, Nitzschke said. "Our business is education."