Centre for International Studies Pty Ltd

I have had the pleasure working with CISaustralia in my capacity as an international education professional over the past 4.5yrs. The CISaustralia team have always supported our team to assist students to have the best possible international learning experiences. The whole team are customer focused, they act with integrity and transparency, and are particularly good at managing difficult situations. I would not hesitate to recommend their services and wish them well as they rebuild their programs following COVID border restrictions. Vanessa Wood, Flinders University.

CISaustralia took excellent care of the logistical issues for our trips in Singapore and Malaysia. The staff are hardworking and highly professional.

CISaustralia is a reputable and high quality provider of overseas study, intern and volunteering programs. Their dedication to the student experience as well as to safety and risk is second to none (which is even more important in this post-COVID world). Amazing service from Brad and the team.

I have worked within the Tourism, Hospitality and Travel industries for many years and have also been fortunate to be the end product user travelling abroad and experiencing these products first hand on many an occasion. I have encountered quite the array of experiences during my travels from various companies but I felt confident and self assured from the first time that I spoke with the team at CIS Australia. They were always professional, responded quickly with any information that I needed to know, and provided me with reassurance that they would always be there for me if ever required. They have quite the array of programs and I love that they responded quickly to adapt to our ever changing world and introduced virtual internships as well. There is definitely a program for everyone! They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a simple step and, in this case, I'd recommend that first step be to contact the team at CIS Australia! They are certainly one of the very best I have dealt with!!

CIS Australia is a professional organisation that communicates well, responds in a timely manner, listens to the needs of faculty/teachers and students. Each of the tours I have planned with them since 2016 have been highly successful and both staff and students alike find their customised program to be a cultural and educational experience. Several have gone on to do additional experiences with CIS. Highly recommend.

CIS Australia does a fantastic job of managing overseas programs. I have personally experienced CIS Australia's professionalism, authenticity and attention to detail as well as their genuine passion and delight in providing wonderful overseas immersive experiences to students. I would highly recommend CIS Australia and I have loved working with the customised programs team specifically. They are a delight to work with.

My team was very grateful to be recommended CIS for support with our university international study tours. Our first experience was amazing, and we hope to continue partnering with CIS for future tours. It took a significant amount of stress out of every aspect of the event, from initial administration, to support for students during the trip. All of our communication with CIS staff has been easy, friendly, reliable and supportive. For any academic or professional staff working on international study tours - I can’t recommend CIS highly enough.

I had the privilege of attending multiple CISaustralia programs and working directly with several student groups who volunteered and/or interned abroad with CISaustralia. The founder and supporting staff are incredibly passionate, dedicated and committed to creating the most meaningful and valuable experiences they can for every student they work with- from support around the clock to site visits and working with Faculty to ensure the transfer of uni credits, I was really impressed with how important these experiences are to the people coordinating everything behind the scenes. The truth is that not all program providers" are alike. I learned this directly after several years studying and working in the international education sector. What I can say with full confidence about CISaustralia is that it is an organization AND a *service* provider that I trust. This company and the people behind it are authentically good and motivated by a meaningful mission

I am now in the process of planning a second and third international study tour for my university students with the wonderful staff at CIS after we had such an excellent experience with the team in our group trip to Cambodia in 2022. I honestly would not have known where to begin with planning and executing an international study tour, but CIS made every step of the process simple and achievable, from the initial planning, making of contacts in the country, assistance with student recruitment and preparation, and finally assistance on the trip itself. Particular thanks goes to Becca who accompanied us in country, meaning that I could focus on the student experience while she kept logistics expertly managed. Not only can I praise their professionalism and ability to make my life a lot easier - they're such great people to deal with too!

Please be aware that CIS Australia is an agency. As such, they charge much higher program fees than if you were to organise volunteering directly with a local non-profit organisation or through IVHQ.From memory, I paid $5K to volunteer to teach English for 3 weeks through CIS Australia and only a small percentage of that actually went to the non-profit organisation and local school. A large proportion was paid to CIS Australia.I would recommend using IVHQ instead if you are interested in international volunteering. They are also an agency but charge much more reasonable fees that vary depending on the program duration you've selected (average $500 p/w) and they inform you of exactly where the fees go. Plus they have 24/7 support staff on site including drivers and offer excellent accommodation and meals cooked by their own staff. My volunteering experiences through IVHQ were much, much more positive and less expensive!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EDIT: I volunteered through CIS Australia in 2018. I posted this review after more recently undertaking placements with IVHQ in early 2020 and 2022 (and soon to go again in 2023). The purpose of this review was to inform those who have a strong interest in volunteering abroad but like me, may not have been aware of the other options available when they first started.Volunteering should not break the bank and the fact is that it costs 2-3 times as much to volunteer through CIS Australia compared to IVHQ. Those higher fees may be reasonable if that extra money was sent offshore to the NGO or placement, but ground staff confirmed that they only received a very small percentage. It also cannot be justified by the implied 'better' agency support or the service/experience provided as I found this was FAR worse on my volunteer placement through CIS Australia (e.g. poor communication and told conflicting pieces of information by CIS vs. ground staff).There are many trustworthy organisations out there that provide excellent experiences and have very reasonable fees (including but not limited to IVHQ, Intern Abroad HQ and African Impact). I would strongly encourage others to carefully compare ALL options and see for yourself. To the very best of my knowledge, all statements contained in this review are accurate and based on my personal experience.