International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) welcomed a record 3,151 new international students to the Urbana campus in Fall 2015 through voluntary orientation, social programming, and federally mandated immigration reporting. Nearly 800 of these students took advantage of the ISSS shuttle service that was provided between Chicago O’Hare airport and campus, ensuring that one in every four new international students was with an ISSS representative from the moment they arrived in the US to the moment they reached campus. Once on campus, 40% of new international freshman participated in the newly revamped orientation program organized jointly by ISSS and New Student Programs. ISSS is also instrumental in IIP’s summer in-country orientation programs that take place in China and South Korea. By providing targeted day-long orientations to incoming students and their families in four key cities, the unit ensures a safe, informed, and well-managed transition to thousands of students making the long journey to Illinois. With the largest Chinese student population in the country, this service is essential to welcoming our students to the Illinois experience.
In Fall 2015, ISSS implemented a voluntary satisfaction survey for students and scholars. Responses from the survey have shown a 94% service satisfaction rate as ISSS continued to serve 12,085 international students and over 2,000 international faculty, staff, and scholars, and all our campus units through advising, immigration services, programming, advocacy, and outreach.