Southeast Missouri State University graduates fewer international students

Only five international students will be among more than 500 undergraduates and graduate students who will receive their diplomas at commencement exercises Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University.

That's far fewer than 20 years ago. Twenty-six international students received diplomas at winter commencement in 1986, school officials said. That graduating class totaled 464 studernts.

The small number of international students in the latest graduating class reflects the decline in international student enrollment since the U.S. government tightened security in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Adelaide Parsons, who stepped down as director of international programs at Southeast earlier this year.

Parsons said international students had difficulty getting visas to enroll at American colleges after the terrorist attacks.

"It started picking up again in 2005," she said.

In 1986, Southeast had a sizeable enrollment of Malaysian students. That would have been reflected in the graduating class, Parsons said.

Today, the university draws few Malaysian students. That's because new colleges have opened in Malaysia, she said. Some American universities now offer classes in Malaysia. "So they are staying home. It is cheaper," Parsons said.

Students from Cape Girardeau and St. Louis counties make up more than 34 percent of the 585 undergraduate and graduate students in this year's graduating class, according to data from the university's office of institutional research.

Elementary education is the single biggest major among graduating students. Sixty-six students will graduate with bachelor's or graduate degrees in that field, institutional research director Patricia Ryan said.

Saturday's commencement is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Show Me Center.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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