Agriculture and education are on President Martin Jischke’ s agenda for his trip to China.

Jischke, his wife Patty, and four other ISU delegates will be leaving Saturday to meet with the president and officials from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing and other Chinese universities.

Their discussions will be geared toward international study and scientific exchange opportunities, among other topics.

In a press release, Jischke said, “This trip is a key opportunity for Iowa State University and Iowa to develop educational and economic linkages with China.”

Jischke’s trip will be the first time the ISU president has gone to China while in office.

The group will be gone from Saturday, June 21, to Thursday, July 3.

While in Beijing, ISU officials will conduct the final negotiations with Chinese officials for the ISU students study abroad program under the direction of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

David Acker, director of International Agriculture Programs, is one of the ISU officials who will be accompanying Jischke.

“We initially want 10 to 15 ISU students in the program with hopes that it will grow to 20 to 25,” Acker said.

Acker said Iowa businesses want ISU graduates to be ready to go to work in places they will be most active, places such as Asia and the Pacific Ring.

Students are already showing interest in the proposed exchange programs, he said.

Starting in May 1998, students would go to China for eight weeks, Acker said. Students would take three or four classes in courses such as Chinese culture and history as well as Chinese economics and agricultural development. The students would receive academic credit at Iowa State for these classes.

“One of the reasons I’m going is to try to get the price as low as possible … I’m going to bargain,” Acker said.

Traveling to China will be expensive, but Acker said there would be financial help for students. He said scholarships are available through the Study Abroad Center and some colleges also have funds.

In the fall of 1996 there were 426 Chinese students at ISU, Acker said, as far as he is aware, there were no ISU students in China.

“It’s almost like a trade-in balance,” Acker said.

“I think students would benefit in two important ways. One would be through their own personal growth in understanding a country totally different from ours. The second way would be to increase their employability. It would show employers that they have an international outlook and are willing to try new things,” Acker said.

According to an ISU study, “International Needs Assessment of Iowa Businesses,” China is at the top of the list of countries in which Iowa companies expect to expand business activities in the next five years.

The report also states that next to Spanish, Mandarin Chinese is the language most needed by Iowa business leaders for their business needs.

Jischke said students and faculty in business, agriculture, family and consumer sciences and veterinary medicine will particularly benefit from the agreement with China.

“It’s a chance for students to come to understand the business culture of a nation who will have an enormous impact on international commerce in the future and learn how a different economy runs,” said Stan Johnson, vice provost for the ISU Extension.

Johnson said their trip to China comes after two years of discussion with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He said this trip will finalize their negotiations.

Johnson said Jischke will visit Qinghua University, which he said is “the MIT of China,” to discuss the opportunities in cooperative education.

Besides Acker and Johnson, John Kluge, professor of veterinary pathology, and Xiangdong Fang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will be traveling to China.