Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- When the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's distance learning program began 25 years ago, its students were all Wisconsin residents. The program slowly expanded, until now its reach is global. This year, Keisuke Nito becomes the first international student to earn his undergraduate degree in business administration at a distance from UWP.

Nito originally pursued a traditional education at South Seattle Community College, but was discouraged by the high cost of living on campus. He returned to his home in Japan after two years, but remained determined to complete his studies and earn a bachelor of science in business administration.

When he first considered earning a degree through distance education, Nito was concerned that the courses might not be as academically challenging as those offered on campus. He was also concerned that potential employers might avoid applicants with degrees from unfamiliar distance learning programs. Being able to work while studying was of prime importance however, so he decided to research alternative education programs.

Nito began his investigation with an Internet search. He found many listings for distance education providers, but most of them offered online courses only. He was drawn to UWP because he could enroll in both online and print-based courses. "Because of the time difference between America and Japan, I personally wanted to avoid online education," Nito explains. "The reputation of UWP encouraged me; however, the initial reason I chose UWP was that it provided a print-based education."

Ease of communication was also an important factor in his decision. Nito observed the speed of e-mail responses that he received from various programs that he contacted for information and was often disappointed. "Frankly, I encountered a number of unfavorable schools with incredibly slow responses to e-mail communication," he explains. "I believe that the core point of distance education is the speed of communication between students and staff/teachers. This is key to the student's success."

Asked what advice he might have for other international students, Nito recommends earning a two-year degree on campus, participating in an English as a Second Language (ESL) program, and then completing the core courses at a distance. He strongly recommends that international students develop good time-management skills, as extra delivery time for textbooks and exams must be taken into consideration when working through the program from overseas. "Communicating with invisible [staff] persons might be more difficult for non-English speakers," he notes.

UWP offers four degrees at a distance: a bachelor of science in business administration, a master of science in criminal justice, a master of engineering, and a master of science in project management. For more information, visit online at http://www.uwplatt.edu/disted, call 800-362-5460 or e-mail disted@uwplatt.edu.