The University joined 1,200 others in the world this year in participating in the largest international-student satisfaction survey in the world.

The International Student Barometer Survey allows international students to rate a variety of programs and services offered at a university based on their own personal experiences. The survey is conducted by the International Graduate Insight Group Ltd., or i-graduate. Pamela Barrett, i-graduate director of client relations, said question topics range from students’ learning experiences to their living environments to sport and social facilities on campus.

“From these questions, the University will get a very clear picture of what the international students think about different dimensions of the experience,” Barrett said. “Then the University can find out where the challenges or problems are and where the good practice is, and they can think about what changes might need to be made.”

Barrett said ISB will also enable the University to compare the experiences of their international students with all other participating universities, including other Big Ten schools.

The standard single-year price for participating in the ISB is $10,000 per institution. But Julie Misa, director of the University’s Office of International Student and Scholar Services, said the office opted to pay a discounted price of $21,000 for one survey per year for three years.

The office sent out the first survey in an email Oct. 30 to all international students on campus, including undergraduate, graduate and non-degree-seeking exchange students.

Misa said that of the 8,648 international students who received the survey, 2,462 students  — about 28 percent — responded as of Tuesday.

She added that she is hoping to receive a lot of strong and accurate feedback from international students, so the University can work to accommodate their needs and preferences.

“It’s good whenever you’re working with a population to find out how things are going and see what’s working well and what might need to be changed,” Misa said. “This is a good instrument, we feel, to be able to do that.”

Sukjin Han, graduate student from South Korea, said he recently participated in the survey because he felt it was his responsibility as an international student and a member of the campus community to share his opinions and experiences.

“I think there are some common concerns among international students in terms of being adapted to the unique aspect of American culture,” Han said. “I had the impression that the ISSS (Office of International Student and Scholar Services) tries its best in helping international students continue their studies here. … I felt that they have sincere care and concern (for) international students.”

After the survey closes on Dec. 7, Barrett said i-graduate will analyze the data and present it to the University in the Spring 2013 semester.

“Essentially, our job is to analyze the data and give (the University) the insight because data is just data until you actually do something with it,” Barrett said. “So, we try to give the University the story of what the most important changes are.”

However, she said that after providing the analysis and benchmarking of the results, it is up to the University to decide what to do with that information. She said many universities look at what past survey participants have done with the results.

“It’s very definitely a word-of-mouth thing,” Barrett said. “Even when the universities contact us initially, what they’re interested in is who else is involved in the survey and how they can get references of what people are doing with it and how useful it is.”

Because the University is among the top five participating schools with the largest international student populations in the country, Barrett said she is eager to see the University’s ISB results. She said she is expecting to find strong satisfaction.

Even so, she said there is always room for improvement, which is why she strongly encouraged student participation.

“I think it’s really important for international students to participate and make their voices heard,” Barrett said. “What’s fantastic about this survey is that the University wants to know what students think. Things are never going to change for the better unless students contribute their views.”

Lauren can be reached at [email protected].