Job Discussion Forums

[mikesharp]

I hope somebody can help me with AUM, I got 2 interviews over skype and now they are asking me for face to face interview in Kuwait, please help me to decide.

[bedwiya]

Stay far away from them. They will tell you anything. They are a shoddy organization and the term "university" is used very loosely. Some new staff this year at my uni are suing them. They fire at will and the place is run by a sadistic Kuwaiti who has no idea how to run either a university or a business.

[shebab]

So after 3 years of bad reviews on this message board, would you say that things haven't changed? They always seem to be looking to fly people to Kuwait at the last minute, something not everyone can do if they have a job and a life on the other side of the world.

What about the salary? I understand they pay about US$3600 a month, but you have to pay about US$900 a month for housing out of that. That almost brings your salary down to Omani levels!

Any comments?

[veiledsentiments]

[musicalcow]

Yes, I agree with the others who posted about this university. It is a terrible place to work. Faculty and staff get fired regularly without any warning. They also make you sign an illegal(against Kuwaiti labor law) contract where you are not allowed to work anywhere else as a teacher if you ever stop working for them. It is extremely unprofessional because I knew at least 10 teachers and a dozen administrative staff who got fired and replaced overnight for no reason. They also purposely and personally come after you once you leave by lying about you, blacklisting you from returning to Kuwait, withholding your indemnity and cancelling your residency among other things. They also make you stay from 8am to 5pm regardless of your teaching schedule. There are many other awful things but I think that is enough. Please, do yourself a favor and work anywhere else except AUM or ACM.

[NinaGeo]

I just wanted to reply to all people who put his/her effort and shared their perceptions or experiences about AUM/ACM.

I myself work at AUM and all I can say is - we are ambitious, we are open, we are diverse, we are demanding and hard-working. We do the things with our heart, we respect and expect respect back.

As I see some comments here are mean but it says more about the people who wrote it rather than about AUM. Some of the comments are totally based on subjective perceptions that is not convincing for anybody at all.

We do really well, we are expanding, we are building, we are developing! And I'll bring a simple example from my experience - I see a huge difference between the time I started working there (2 years ago) and where we are now. I'm sure I will witness better and bigger achievements at AUM.

My dears, if you want to know some updates about AUM I'll be happy to share

[alnorman]

In my 25 years of managing various colleges and universities in Europe and Latin America, I could have never imagined that such rampant violation of every academic standard as it happens at AUM is possible. AUM is a cancer on the educational body of Kuwait. Just like cancer, it grows very fast: starting with 25 students in 2008, AUM now has over 1500 students. And each semester hundreds more Kuwaiti citizens flock to AUM with promises of easy grades, all-paid scholarships, and so called "character" development. AUM and ACM are the central part of a for-profit organization, which came up with an ingenious scheme to pump millions of dinars out of Kuwaiti government under the pretence of providing real education.

This is how the devious scheme works: 1) AUM gets affiliation with Purdue University; 2) Purdue affiliation makes AUM eligible to receive payments from a government organization called Private Universities Council (PUC). For each and every AUM student, who is a Kuwaiti citizen and "maintains" a good GPA, AUM gets 20000 EUR annually. Each Kuwaiti citizen that studies at AUM also receives about 600 EUR monthly for "studying" at AUM. 4) All what is needed for AUM to keep its affiliation with Purdue is to create an appearance of real education, to put shiny wrapper on the deeply fraudulent scheme.

In this scheme, both the AUM administration and AUM students line their pockets with money. Neither students nor the AUM administration is interested in learning. However, maintaining affiliation with Purdue is not easy. AUM has to "prove" on paper that students learn according to "Purdue standards."

Producing all this "proof" rests on the shoulders of AUM faculty, who are exploited immensely and daily to produce according to the administration tastes various "reports" and "lesson plans," post "homeworks" on online register Moodle, take daily attendances of every student, prepare lessons and exams "according to Purdue syllabus" This is all FRAUD. No actual learning happens. I saw too many senior AUM business students that fail to answer the simplest economics 101 questions. AUM students, with very few exceptions, are extremely ignorant but at the same time feel entitled to get As.

AUM faculty have to pretend that their students know, and give fake grades. The real level of AUM students is so despicably low that most would fail in a mediocre high-school. Yet, they "pass" all Purdue-certified courses and exams with straight As but know almost nothing. AUM is NOT about learning, it is about sucking money out of PUC and pretending that real education is going on there.

It is hard to imagine a more deceitful university. Fraud is not just a daily occurrence at AUM. Fraud is infused into the very bones of this university.

AUM administration uses all possible tactics (intimidation, spying, lies) to make all employees say only positive things about the university. This is part of "character" development. Any faculty that dares to speak the truth is called a spreader of negativity and will be immediately fired for "failing to work on her character." AUM makes their HR employees to post positive reviews on forums like this, they incessantly talk about "professionalism," "integrity," "quality," and "the highest education standards in the world." They even plaster those "positive" words around the hallways. All this is nothing but lies. All this is done to cover up the scheme and continue to pump millions of dinars out of PUC.

Any faculty who enters AUM ought to leave their integrity and honesty behind and be ready to commit academic fraud every working day. There is no place after AUM. It morally corrupts everyone who works there.

That being said, there are some people that can find AUM an acceptable place to work. Those faculty that gave up on real academic career (no reputable university will hire any faculty that worked at AUM for over a year), those that are willing to sell out daily, those that are willing to come home exhausted from all the lies and fraud five times a week, those can save money if they can last at AUM for 4-5 years and if AUM can last that long. It would be some tidy some that can be enough to retire in some developing country, like Thailand or Belize.

[mashkif]