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MikeF88
Joined: 11 May 2016
Posts: 2
Location: NEW YORK, NY
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 Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 11:52 am Post subject: Kolej Yayasan Pahang (KYP) in Kuantan |
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Hello everyone,
Is anyone familiar with this college on the east coast of Malaysia in Kuantan? I have just been offered an English teaching position there.
I am waiting to hear back from the HR department with the contract and additional information so I do not know the specifics. I had interviews with 2 Americans that work at the school (a woman and a man) and the Managing Director of the school (a Malaysian man). It seems like a legit opportunity but I do not want to be too naive as they have never really specified the exact specifics of the position/opportunity.
Any advice/experiences would be greatly appreciated. |
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KayuJati
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 313
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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MikeF88
BINGO!
I taught at that college from 2000 to 2012. In fact, it was under a different name at the time (IKIP International College), but was one of the subsidiaries of Yayasan Pahang. I saw on FaceBook late last year that they had changed the name to Kolej Yayasan Pahang. I still remain in contact with former colleagues at the college.
What did you want to know?
It is a legitimate college, that has struggled to stay relevant in the face of stiff competition. But we were always paid on time, and I had a good relationship with the lady who was CEO of Yayasan Pahang. I also knew and worked with the man who is now head of YP.
PM me if you want the type of information that they frown upon here in the Cafe. I also had a blog about my time there that would be very informational, but again the Cafe frowns upon outside links. |
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KayuJati
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 313
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| Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 2:34 am Post subject: |
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MikeF88
Sorry I missed your PM on the 18th. I kept looking at this main board for a newer post than mine from the 14th, but didn't check my PM until today. Hope you got settled in Kuantan by now or are on the way. |
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mbkirova
Joined: 15 Jan 2014
Posts: 7
Location: Bulgaria
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:16 am Post subject: is the visa run a problem at Kolej Yayasan Pahang ? |
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| A recent ad for instructors at Kolej Yayasan Pahang says that all the legalities are taken care of after arrival and that you will initially have to do a visa run. I don't like the sound of this-- can anyone comment? The job description also looks like it might be a massive workload. How many teaching hours are required? |
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KayuJati
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 313
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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Do you see the scam alert related to this college?
I suggest that you PM the OP of that post and get his or her take on these job adverts. I worked at the precursor to KYP (IKIP) up to July 2012, but things seem to have changed and you would be wise to get advice from someone working there currently.
What hours were they advertising? At the old IKIP College, it was typical to have 18-22 classroom hours each week. That was for everyone, not just the foreign lecturers. |
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mbkirova
Joined: 15 Jan 2014
Posts: 7
Location: Bulgaria
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| Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:07 am Post subject: Kolej Yayasan Pahang scam? |
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| Where was the scam alert for Kolej Yayasan Pahang? Searched but couldn't find it. |
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KayuJati
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 313
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| Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:58 pm Post subject: Re: Kolej Yayasan Pahang scam? |
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| mbkirova wrote: |
| Where was the scam alert for Kolej Yayasan Pahang? Searched but couldn't find it. |
It is the thread right below this one! Click on the Malaysia link and look for the two KYP threads, yours on top of the scam one. |
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grfl
Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 6:52 am Post subject: Visa issues |
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| Several lecturers were recently dismissed without notice because of so-called visa issues. They were also told legalities would be taken care of on arrival. Proceed with caution. |
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grfl
Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:36 am Post subject: Facts speak for themselves |
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Seven out of twelve expats have left or been dismissed since August 2015, four months. The statistics speak for themselves.
The interests and efforts of management of this institution are 95% political, 5% academics.
If you excel at political tactics like brown-nosing, negative propaganda, and tickling the ear, you will do well here. If, however, you prefer forthrightness, reason, logic and your interest is in academic excellence, you will be much happier elsewhere.
Last edited by grfl on Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:43 am; edited 1 time in total |
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grfl
Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Posts: 19
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KayuJati
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 313
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 3:50 pm Post subject: Re: Facts speak for themselves |
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| grfl wrote: |
Seven out of twelve expats have left or been dismissed since August 2015, four months. The statistics speak for themselves.
The interests and efforts of management of this institution are 95% political, 5% academics.
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How do you get four months between August 2015 and December 2016?
Having worked 12 years at that college, I suspect what happened is that the new MD (whom I worked with on a few projects) got excited about adding a bunch of English lecturers without checking into the Ministry of Education (MOE) requirements.
One major requirement that they had begun to enforce around the time that I left (2012) was that lecturers could only teach the subjects for which they had bachelor degrees. So someone like a colleague of ours, who had a BSc in Chemistry and Masters of Business Administration, was not allowed to teach business classes but only chemistry. Likewise, the current IT manager, whom I hired, has a bachelors degree in some Islamic law course and masters in IT. Today he would not be allowed to teach IT subjects, only Islamic Law.
Dumb law, for sure, but it is the law. The MOE is anal retentive, BTW.
So, MD has a bunch of people hired who probably don't have bachelor degrees in English or Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language, and he cannot get work permits for them to teach English. Of course he will try to get rid of them because MALULAH!!
This doesn't excuse the MD, of course, but probably explains the situation. Correct me if I'm wrong. Did all 7 of these people have bachelor degrees in English or English teaching?
My experience is that there are a lot of people who got degrees in something other than English or English teaching and then later in life decided they wanted to "travel the world via English teaching". Well, Malaysia tightened up standards, whether wrongly or rightly, and those people got caught. Sorry. |
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grfl
Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 5:16 am Post subject: kolej yayasan pahang |
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Please be aware the current management attitude and methodology are not conducive to pleasant working conditions. Eight out of 12 expats recently left or were dismissed due to "visa" issues. The Managing Director had delegated HR responsibilities to so-called "consultants" who were not qualified and totally incompetent for the task.
Be forewarned that the academic vice-president and other academic personnel are not trained nor have any background in education. Their academic background is in business.
Expats often had classes two days a week and the rest of the week were required to be on campus. Expats are required to clock in and out every day. Expats are assigned classes on different campuses and transportation between campuses is a challenge. Promised housing conditions were not realized.
The pay is ridiculous. As posted previously, this institution is very political. Lots of back biting and negative gossip for positioning.
You can do much better elsewhere. |
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KayuJati
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 313
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: kolej yayasan pahang |
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| grfl wrote: |
Please be aware the current management attitude and methodology are not conducive to pleasant working conditions. Eight out of 12 expats recently left or were dismissed due to "visa" issues.
The pay is ridiculous. As posted previously, this institution is very political. Lots of back biting and negative gossip for positioning.
You can do much better elsewhere. |
Now you are coming across as extremely "sour grapes". You don't have a BA in English so the MOE wouldn't give the college a teaching visa for you to teach at the degree level. Yes, the college screwed up big time inviting you to come over and making promises it couldn't keep. You're not the first one this has happened to, and you won't be the last.
But to call this college "political" is funny. EVERY college is political. If you hadn't noticed, Malaysia starts with the word MALAY. So now you know who is going to benefit from any setup.
KYP has a good setup for anyone who holds a bachelors degree in English if that is what they are being recruited to teach. The pay is sufficient for living in Kuantan. It is better to arrange your own housing and I had no trouble doing that in my 17 years.
How to succeed in the politicised environment that is Malaysia is to avoid politics. Follow the example of the Chinese and Indian lecturers (Yong, Christle, Siva, and etc.). They do their jobs, leave at the end of the day, and don't complain openly. They have limited social dealings with their Malay colleagues. The Malay "leadership" need workers to get the jobs done. They already have people lined up to take the credit, but they still need worker bees.
Like I said, ESL in Asia is a sunset industry. I doubt that it will resurrect the careers of westerners who made bad choices early on in their tertiary education. |
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grfl
Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:17 pm Post subject: Ignorance and trust |
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Some folks obviously just don't get the point or glean points selectively.
:wink |
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