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New Rules at HCT...(and affecting ZU and UAEU)
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:03 am    Post subject: New Rules at HCT...(and affecting ZU and UAEU) Reply with quote

It seems that the new Emirati upper management has decided that teachers, like sweepers and construction workers, need to be under much stronger control. They have become way too uppity and under the impression that since advanced degrees and experience are required that they should be treated like professional educators. No more... the slaves and serfs must know their place.

Two new sets of rules are out.

VS


Last edited by veiledsentiments on Sun Jun 04, 2017 2:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some of this was previously written, but rarely enforced in any serious way - unless broken egregiously and repeatedly.

New Dress Rules that will now be strongly enforced:

1.1 In accordance with the Dress Code Policy, business attire should be worn Sunday to Thursday and when on campus during out of office hours. Directors are responsible for ensuring that employees are appropriately dressed at the HCT campuses and that an image of a professional institution of higher learning is maintained at all times in regard to employee attire.

1.2. Appropriate business attire includes the following:

Men
Suit, blazer (when representing HCT and in meetings)
Collared dress shirt with long or short sleeves and tie
Pressed trousers
Dress shoes

Women
Dress, suit, dress shirt (which covers upper arms)
Dress pants or skirts with hemlines below the knees
Dress shoes (closed shoes and smart sandals)

1.3. Exceptions
1.3.1. UAE National employees may wear local UAE dress.
1.3.2. Employees who are responsible for health and fitness of HCT students must wear appropriate sports clothing.

1.4. Limitations:
1.4.1. Employees should not wear jeans, denim skirts or jackets, short pants (i.e. Capri pants), tee-shirts, spandex or other form-fitting garments, plunging necklines, garments with revealing slits, see-through clothes, or distracting, offensive or revealing clothes. There should also not be an observable lack of undergarments or exposed undergarments.
1.4.2. Clothing should also be free of sexually related references, foul language, or inappropriate slogans, or religious symbols/slogans.
1.4.3. Non-national employees should refrain from wearing relevant traditional national dress during the working hours.
1.4.4. All employees, other than sports instructors, should not wear athletic shoes, thongs, flip flops, rubber sandals, or slippers except for medical reasons.
1.4.5. Instructors and Technicians in the Laboratory must wear protective clothes such as coveralls and/or gloves in a Chemistry Lab or Engineering lab.
1.4.6. No other areas of the body should be visible with body piercing jewelry except earrings and, where it is the cultural tradition, tiny stud nose rings for ladies.
1.4.7. Tattoos should at all times be covered by clothing.
1.4.8. Fingernails must be kept at a moderate length, clean and avoid dark nail polish.
1.4.9. Be conservative with the use of cosmetics, avoiding dark and other extreme colours.
1.4.10. Hair, If not covered with scarf, must be off face at all times. If the hair is longer than shoulder length, it must be tied back with hair clip or band.

1.5. Badge
All employees should wear the HCT badge during working hours. The badge should be clearly visible.
Any violation of the dress code and grooming standards shall result in disciplinary action.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is more info on the New Rules:

Quote:
There are new policies concerning work hours, signing in and class schedules.

1. Hours

It's 8am-4pm and 8am-5pm if we take a lunch break; this is for all, management, teachers and staff. 7am-3pm no longer applies. For the afternoon teachers, they too must have an 8 hour work day. It's absolutely crucial these teachers and students stay until the end of the teaching schedule; if classes are supposed to finish at 8.30pm, then they must do so. We also need to get our HCT cards, once issued, put on lanyards. Allowing teachers to collect their children from school during working hours is not allowed from now on. Neither can we go to school to watch our children in school events. The same applies for medical appointments, passports etc – please manage such things outside of working hours. Sports events must also take place outside class hours.

2. Signing in and class schedules

This will be very closely monitored; we all have to be at work in time to be in class on time; warnings have already been given to those teachers who are not in their scheduled rooms. If for any reason, teachers have to change rooms or have an exam with their students somewhere else, the Chair and Academic Services need to be told well in advance.


Rumor has it that they will be getting those fingerprint machines for signing in and out every day.

Be warned. HCT has always had issues. Now it has become a joke that any professional educator will choose to avoid. The few long time teachers who are still left after the last two years will be gone at the end of their next contract.

VS
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peripatetic_soul



Joined: 20 Oct 2013
Posts: 303

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:22 am    Post subject: New rules at HCT Reply with quote

Dear VS, et. al,
Former colleagues heading out in June confirm what you have posted and with more surprises yet to be unveiled, e.g., changes in salaries, housing, etc. Very insulting to adult professionals who spend countless hours at home evenings and weekends preparing lessons, etc. It seems the new VC is no improvement from former one. A good time to bid adieu.
PS
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johnnyRockets



Joined: 26 Jan 2015
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Embarassed
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also received a PM from another non-poster (fear of mgmt) here that the male students told him that they've also been given a dress code: kandura, no more jeans and T-shirts, white ghutra, and no more checked or striped undergarments - must be white.

Have you noted the obsession of this new VC about underwear - both students and teachers? Cool It is starting to look like a fetish to me. Laughing I wonder if the female students have received a set of rules covering their underwear.

I also heard that fingerprinting has shown up in some branches.

VS
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2buckets



Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Posts: 515
Location: Middle East

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wonder if they are aware of the way professors dress in most American and British universities, Jeans, sandals, trainers are the norm.

Funny how that doesn't detract from getting a first class education.

In the middle east it's all about "looking good" and control. Results are irrelevant.


Last edited by 2buckets on Mon Feb 01, 2016 3:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 3:45 pm    Post subject: erm Reply with quote

What's wrong with wearing a shirt and tie? What's wrong with asking for tats etc to be covered up? It's a two-way street. They choose who they want and you apply to whom you want. Same as any country.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No one said that every single thing in these rules was outrageous, but the long hours with no release for doctors, important legal requirements, picking up children from school if needed, etc. This is a college... not a factory where all will crumble if there is not a worker at every machine. At a professional academic institution in the US or UK, you are only required to be there for class contact hours, a few office hours, and meetings. It was excessive when the hours were 7-3, now it's ridiculous and completely unprofessional IMHO.

The use of fingerprinting in and out as if it were a prison and only the teachers are inmates while the students are not being policed?

They do seem overly obsessed with undergarments, fingernail length and perceived cleanliness, and the horror of hair touching a woman's face. If one is in the women's college, what does it matter if a female's hair is up or down or back? Common sense says that this is different in the men's colleges.

Are they going to police the female students' fingernail length, polish color, and make-up? I never saw a teacher whose choices on those three ever came near what the students displayed. Rolling Eyes

VS
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

veiledsentiments wrote:
Are they going to police the female students' fingernail length, polish color, and make-up?

Maybe. But teachers really need to be concerned if the "underwear shurta" are out in force conducting raids. Shocked
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2015 4:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The plot thickens... seems that upper management is getting the message that they have pushed things too far. The backpedaling has started. I have received news from three colleges that teachers have been told that teachers will be able to leave the premises for legitimate reasons... with permission in triplicate I presume. LOL

But the fingerprinting machines have arrived, if not yet operational.

And these are not all the changes. The female students are up in arms concerning changes in the curriculum. Things are all aflutter on twitter...

VS
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2015 4:41 am    Post subject: erm Reply with quote

'At any professional academic institution in the UK or US...'

Therein lies the issue.

Requiring people to be somewhere between certain times and getting them to 'clock in' and 'out'? Well I never!

Anyone who's spent time teaching in oil companies or the military will find all of this normal. When I taught at the uni level it was an easy life.

Just because you have a zillion letters after your name, it doesn't mean that you stop being a TEFL teacher and therefore at the bottom of any barrel.

Welcome to the real world.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2015 5:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We aren't referring to oil companies and military, this is supposedly a college/university. It is why most professional educators choose to have the credentials to be able to work at the tertiary level and be treated with a modicum of respect.

You may be used to being treated like this... but this has not been the situation at the better universities in the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain for the last 30 or so years.

VS
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
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PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2015 6:26 am    Post subject: erm Reply with quote

So why not stay in the States?

The world has moved on since the 70s.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri May 01, 2015 3:47 pm    Post subject: Re: erm Reply with quote

dragonpiwo wrote:
So why not stay in the States?

The world has moved on since the 70s.

Actually I am in the states and math isn't your strong suit? Laughing Laughing I've had a couple people ask if you are HCT management. But based on your posting history, I told them I doubted it. As I recall, you have never worked in the UAE nor for HCT... and your Middle East jobs have been oil related.

But, of course the world has moved on... and as far as education in the Gulf, it has certainly deteriorated. But, HCT is the biggest tertiary education provider in the country, so significant deterioration there is significant for us. Salaries have stagnated, housing provision is rapidly moving into the toilet, and now they want to play power games.

The student tweet-in and the posts here and in other media has their attention and management memos are starting. Mostly is it of the "well that isn't exactly what we meant" sort of thing.

The fact is that there has always been a dress code for teacher - but the new additions have gone into the ridiculous "maiden aunt" level. There is respecting the local culture, but checking underwear, make-up, and fingernail cleanliness is basically silly power games.

There have always been long hours and teachers were supposed to stay around all day trying to work in those horrible open plan cubicles. But expanding the hours into factory work/office drone level is completely unnecessary. Adding fingerprint machines to enforce it is extreme power games. You can't put lipstick on that... camel.

VS
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