Job Discussion Forums

drella · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Oregon, USA

Hey guys, anybody know anything about Jinan University?

hilena_westb · Joined: 13 Nov 2012 Posts: 130

bestteacher2012 · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 160

I see they require a Masters degree and their starting salary is a pathetic 5k... Rolling Eyes

drella · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Oregon, USA

Anybody know anything about the city or the u?

doogsville · Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 924 Location: China

Which city? The main campus is in Guangzhou but they have a campus in Zhuhai too.

drella · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Oregon, USA

Both, I know very little about the situation at Jinan National University. I want to know everything you know about this school and the cities it is located in.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

drella · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Oregon, USA

Yes, I did searches and very little. I worked in Korea for over a decade and have been in the States for 5 years now, but I'm thinking about moving to China. I like the hours at this school.

doogsville · Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 924 Location: China

There's a ton of information on both Guangzhou and Zhuhai already available on the net, and specifically, both cities have very good expat websites that give a lot of relevant information. Try here for Zhuhai http://www.deltabridges.com/zhuhai
I live in Zhuhai and work at the Zhuhai JNU campus. I like the city, it's small for a Chinese city, easy to get around, and very clean compared to many other Chinese cities. The local government are currently implementing a plan to make it some kind of eco city in the near future, so hopefully it will get even cleaner and greener. There's a large expat community, since it was one of the first special economic zones, so while there's a lot of foreign teachers around, there's also a lot of business types.

As to the uni, well, I like my job. Some of the students are frankly not interested in their major or my classes, but others are very keen and work hard. We have an English bar, the attendance of which is compulsory for FT's about once a fortnight, for two hours. Some classes are at weekends or in the evenings, but the work schedule is not heavy. The uni tries very hard to support and include us in our jobs and the day to day affairs of the school, but sometimes communication is a bit slow. I know nothing about Guangzhou or the JNU campus there, except that there are a lot of foreign teachers there, and last year they took them all for a three day trip to Yangshuo.

drella · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Oregon, USA

Thanks for the information. I'm trying to get a handle on how its going to compare to Korea and so far I get the feeling that it is somewhat like Korea in the early 90's. When I came to Korea in 94 the salaries where about what they are now in China, but when I left they where about three times higher. They say all models are wrong but so far it feels that way to me. Thanks so much for sharing your observations with me.

hilena_westb · Joined: 13 Nov 2012 Posts: 130

Details in the posts suggest you are likely much older than I first assumed. It can be inferred that you are likely 55+ years old. Is that correct? If so, then you will have an issue finding working as it approaches the legal hiring age.

drella · Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Oregon, USA

I know, it sucks. I get that, but being retired in the States sucks. After nearly 15 years of living in Korea and now almost 6 years here in the States, I feel like a dude without a country. I'm a little too western for Asia, but now I'm a little to eastern for the occidental life. My window is closing as a language teacher, I realize that, but my window for adventurer is opening. I've never worked in China so getting to know a new city and navigating the ropes of a foreign culture is an exellent way to learn about a people and a neck of the woods that I'm extremely interested in. I'm shocked on a daily basis by the myopic range of cultural experience a majority of Americans are aware. After living outside the west for so long I see the States as somekind of bloated Romanesque fading culture. Being in the east is like being time traveled back to the 50's and 60's in terms of consumer cultural evolution, there is still a sense of optimism. Here (States), its like Matrix, only the baths are serotonin reuptake inhibitors and the hologram is the political culture wars pushing their armies further and further to the extreme. Hopefully I can finish a screen play of the post-Bladerunner world that I see unfolding before they send me out to pasture.