Program Reviews

As the saying goes “first instincts always the best”. Often, you'll hear people say that you should "trust your instincts" when making decisions. Being in a dilemma as to where to do my intern abroad program really got to me.
I’m Joseph (citizen of USA) and had the privilege to undertake a 2 months internship program in Shanghai, China. At the beginning, I was offered a similar program in Hong Kong but my gut instincts opt for Shanghai, China. The busy vibrant city with its unique riverside and financial Hub is one of the most wanted places everyone should be. My 9 weeks internship in Shanghai will be one of the unforgettable memories in my life.
I count myself very lucky to be an intern in an Accounting Firm in Shanghai, directly working with the General Manager (for that matter). As accounting intern in the Tax Department, some of my roles included assembling and organizing clients information, preparing reports that highlight the expected results of tax returns, input client data, reconciling final tax returns with expected results, among others.
I see myself “on-top” with the new skills acquired.
At the beginning, family and friends did not come to terms with my decision of traveling abroad for an internship but upon return home, they appreciated such decision.
Sincerely, I must confess, coming to China (Beijing) had opened a lot of career opportunities for me.
As HR Intern with a multinational company, I had a fascinating but “human face” approach of dealing with issues. Understanding and appreciating your personnel is an important tool for organization success.
I worked at the firm for 3 months and during my internship, I learnt many things – namely, working with the HR Team to prepare job description, filing, posting recruitments on job boards, taking minutes at meeting, assist resolving employees complaints, observing interview sections and notifying interviewees – selected and not selected, writing and circulating memos, etc.
In addition, the corporate dinners and other evening entertainment events were incredibly unforgettable. I cherished every moment spent in Beijing.
Recommending people is the least thing I can do as beneficiary. I would recommend this program to anyone interested in developing his/her career abroad.
Thanks, CIP; thanks to my internship accounting firm; thanks, Shanghai; and lastly, thanks, China.

In this world, making a bold decision comes with a reward. I must confess, it was not easy taking this huge decision but as the saying goes “the end justifies the means”.
My 2 months internship in Shanghai was a stunning experience and very glad China was my first Asia country to begin. Permit me to express my deepest gratitude to CIP Team for their tremendous assistance in ensuring my accommodation, visa and internship job in China. Working among the dedicated workforce of Asset Management Team added more practical value to my academic knowledge. As an intern I was trained to analzse contract information, asset depreciations, write cost reports, issue payments due and purchase order, manage inventory, assists in the renegotiation exercise of customer contracts among others.
This has been the best experience of my life so far away from home. The creamy part of it all is that one gets to travel to historic places, meeting affable people and eating delicious traditional and continental cuisines.
To ALL friends and family, I say – make a bold decision now and move your career to the next level.

Hospitality, they say, is the key to customer satisfaction. One of the most defining moments in my life is my desire to pursue a hotel management internship in China. Regardless of the geographical distance, I was very poised on embarking such memorable career development journey. The internship placement, I must say was impressive with lots of overseas experiences.
As Guest Relations Personnel, I was trained to make our clients feel welcome and ensure their comfortable and enjoyable stay at our hotel. In addition, I felt in love with the meticulous nature of the job and importantly, establish a friendly relationship with ALL.
Pursuing such an internship broadened my horizon by making me realize that the industry heavily relies entirely on customers “being happy” even when they were at fault.
I’m very blessed to have the chance to work and live in such a captivating city like Shanghai, China and will always recommend this program to friends and family looking forward to developing their career professionally.

After my graduation from Queensland's University, Landing a common job became a struggle. I did everything possible just to put my knowledge I have acquired to practice .However it wasn’t quite easy. I decided to test the waters and explore all possible opportunities I could chance on just to put my career on track. So as I explored, I chanced on this article, "How to land a permanent job from your internship" published by China internship placements. I read through this article with my eagerness to find out more. At the tail end of the article, I click on a link that says how to plan your China internship and I was led to the webpage of CIP. Everything else took flight after afterwards leading to my arrival in China for a three month internship placement in Beijing. Before arriving in china, I was a bit skeptical and I thought the experiences will be jarring. But those GUYS at CIP made my experience overwhelming. They are professionally competent. Every aspect of their program components is executed without breach. I was warmly received at the airport followed with a welcome dinner thence to my apartment. I had a good rest on the weekend and on Monday, I was introduced to my interning company by this lovely lady named "Joanna." my zero knowledge of mandarin which I thought would be a hindrance never crosses the scene. To cut everything short , I landed myself a job at the end of my 3month internship not with the same company though but a different one. My decision of falling on China Internship placements for an internship in China was and has been fruitful and continues to yield fruition. On this note ,I add that if you want to gain knowledge about Asian regulatory issues regarding marketing and Chinese market entry strategies, Professional grooming to gain hands-on experience and the Opportunity to land a permanent Job, do not hesitate to go with CIP.

This is a program I very much liked compared to all other internship programs I considered during my search. I graduated with a bachelor in International Business and Trade and would like to do my Master degree but I was keen to getting some corporate experience before continuing.
I knew this is really a step out of comfort zone because I needed to man up and grow some amount of self confidence and trust in my good-self. I wanted to be sure I was not a corporate misfit. I also was serious to make sure that I did not have too much theories without skills.
My internship placement was staged in a shanghai company with an investment banking company located at the center of the city. I liked this company because though I was a marketing student, I got to understand the operation of financial companies especially services.
Before my arrival into China, CIP arranged a conversation between me and the HR manager of my prospective host company. Our discussions were based around my role as an Intern. Have done minored Finance, I felt I could also use the opportunity to practice investment banking. So I had a mixed role of marketing financial instruments and projects as well as evaluating organizations for corporate takeovers and infrastructural investment. I also learnt what it takes to invest into china especially regarding very sensitive sectors.
As part of the program, we had 3 days set aside for entrepreneurial training for all interns. OMG !!! I loved it. We had representatives of several organizations practically teach us how to set up a business as an expat in China and the procedure is very simple with the few tactics we were taught. I will not share that here but I will encourage Interns to choose CIP’s program because of their entrepreneurial training. This is not only relevant in Chinese context but could be applied elsewhere.
Coming out of this program, I will surely recommend it to intern irrespective of their field of study because you get more than just an experience.

My heart beats for simple things and I love to meet life at the simplest corner. that’s why when I had to decide where to do my internship, I opted for China. I read a lot about Buddhism, Confucius and Taoist principles which define an average Chinese and I believe this is what life ought to be.
I joined CIP’s Premium Executive Internship for 6 months and I felt the time, money and other resources was worth it. I joined the program in November 2014 till April 2015. I arrived at the airport and never knew what to expect especially how Beijing looks as well as life in general. It was life away from home so I relied on CIP to fill up the gap.
I will say the company I was placed seem ready to receive me. I remember so well that faithful morning, I was supposed to be introduced to my internship company and upon arrival with my program coordinator from CIP, I noticed something so amazing. As I approached the door, the entire members of my team were at the main entrance with a flower to welcome me. I was so touched by the gesture such that I really felt at home. This is one of the most touching moments in my life and I will never forget.
Arriving at my designated desk, I noticed my name was neatly written and placed on the table with a note welcoming me. The impeccable working environment sent chills down my spine as I prepared to meet my HR. The company is a Joint venture between Shell and Tongyi, a Chinese State Owned Enterprise. So when it comes to facilities and office space and deco, it is way above my expectation.
My role involved assisting the marketing team with quality contents. I also edited and updated old articles for re-publishing. The biggest of the projects I worked on was Asian regional magazine on sustainable energy projects as well as Shell’s commitment to efficiency and sustainability.
This sent me to the numerous project sites with my team members to inspect how some projects were progressing. We help brainstorming segments every Monday and Thursday to evaluate progress of our work and introduce fresh ideas.
The organization had serious government links that sends me speaking with very influential people in China’s Energy sector. I am proud I went through this program and I am happy I was able to get through the program. I had every bit of elements delivered except my language package because I was very busy with work schedules, travel itinerary such that I had no time to study. I was nevertheless allocated class hours.
I asked for a refund which my program adviser found it tough to arrange because of CIP’s policy. At the end of the day, I had some refund and the rest of the class was scheduled online after I left China.
On the whole, the program was great. I had my university supervisor and parents write few lines of review for publishing on their website.
I will recommend that future participants must take part of their Chinese language classes online before arrival such that there will be no pressure when work demands get tough. This will go a long way to easily assist participants to easily assimilate into society.

I was in China in summer 2014 for a language program via CIP's Program. It was full of fun, very educative and transformative, especially the immersion. My University recommended this program while I was searching for China Summer Programs.
I had a Chinese language program arranged with Fudan University in Shanghai which awarded me credit for my university transcript. I selected an intensive program so I also had language tutors helping with language lessons in the evenings.
The end product was to get me sit my HSK exams and that worked. I will say the program was successful given the support. I was allocated with a personal program coordinator who was at my disposal every now and then for updates and my safety. The accommodation was ok as well as the living conditions. I did not like the first place I was allocated and I complained and this was changed within a week.
The swiftness in response from the Program Directors is fine with me. Sometimes responses do not come promptly but that’s understandable because I have access to my coordinator for urgent issues to be addressed.

I was referred by some friends to join CIP’s program while I trying to plan my Placement Year. I had the option to either take a year off from university to gain some experience or take lessons in class and of cause the former was ideal to me.
Joining CIP was an opportunity travel for the first time out of Europe and then develop the real man in me. I had 3 offer from Mechanical Engineering companies and my program coordinator assisted me in the decision making. I finally settled for an offer from a car making company. I am very happy at CIP’s offer selection process. I had a variety of offers and spoke with the HR Managers and as well did few consultations before finally making a decision. I am surprised at the volume of information CIP has about their partner organizations which are only made known at the point of application.
My Internship was awesome as I had the opportunity to speak with industry leaders in the area of investment banking and infrastructure investment in Shanghai. I did some work on Mergers and Acquisitions as well.
During my travel in China, I noticed huge infrastructure developments in 3rd tier cities which I think are waste of resources. There are several ghost towns and real estates developed which had no demand. When I further inquired, I was told it is the Chinese government’s strategy to keep its citizens engaged and employed. The extent of infrastructure development is enormous and gigantic.
I will add my voice to the rest of the previous reviewers that CIP is a great program. I have noticed CIP participants do not go through hectic ordeals that other program participants experience. I had few friends who suffered so much from other programs. On these basis, I will recommend CIP to all young people.

Taking an Internship with CIP’s Platform will expose you to diverse opportunities in Asia and beyond with properly arranged Internships, relevant Job descriptions and good organizations. I selected CIP because of their program components which I could not find anywhere. The insurance, mentoring, coaching, entrepreneurial training, etc.
My internship in Shanghai I must say was very successful with very interesting. I worked with a Consultancy House. I was placed into a group that helps companies with training their middle management teams on areas of leadership, performance management and corporate communication. I assisted with training need assessments, impact assessments and proposal drafting. I work from 9am till 5pm and spend the rest of the evening with various activities and networking.
I join very interesting events organized by CIP, spent time with my colleagues, had a language classes and so much more.
The networking was great and I have already made up my mind to work in China because my uncle works with a very reputable organization in China. I made new friends from all over the world and some of which are very good materials for future projects.
This program is fun, entertaining, immersive, educative and added more value to my abilities.

This is a serious program I must admit. During my first contact with my Program Adviser over Skype, I was told to withdraw my application if I was coming to China for fun. This freaked me so much and I felt the pressure to perform but at the end all CIP supported me to deliver.
Life as an intern in China is so interesting and involving thanks to CIP Internship platform. I had my greatest experience in Shanghai during my Internship program in 2015. The organizing and program contents were well delivered in the process and there is little room for correction although there are few flaws but not significant enough to mar the beauty.
Aside the experience segment which I loved so much, We had very good activities cultural, trip etc. I love the kung fu segment it’s really a very healthy practice. It keeps the body properly aligned and after every segment, there is that inner comfort. The weekend meetups with the startup community in China was a great networking point for me as I met lots of young people from the west who are making it in China when it comes to entrepreneurship. The Business Chamber events were very executive and worth mentioning here as well
The company I worked in provided business advisory services to organizations and I was working on data collection, interpretation and presenting reports to senior Management upon approval of my supervisor. It was an eye opening segment and I love it. I had made very interesting connections that I think will be very helpful when I complete college