Job Discussion Forums

[eihpos]

It seems to be the norm for public universities to offer only one year contracts, 9 months, or even one semester. I am working in a public uni and thinking I may like/need to renew when my contract ends if January. I was wondering how contract renewal works in these universities. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't renew my contract as I have done a good job, but there is very little communication between foreign teachers and the Chinese admin so it is difficult to know anything! It is completely different from the western sino joint university I previously worked where everything was by the book and transparent.

I am basically wondering what happens, or what has happened in cases of people who have or still do work in a public uni. Do they automatically renew, do you have to do anything (review, meeting, etc.) I just feel a little in the dark about it, and don't want to get an unpleasant surprise at the last minute, and be told I'm not being renewed for no reason, without having found anything else!

Thanks!

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

You may not be asked to sign another contract if you decide to stay on. If the school likes you, you'll be asked your intentions a couple of months before the end of your contract, and that's it. Be proactive; it's a good idea to initiate the conversation.Schools consider teachers as temporary help, so you may not even be asked to stay even though the school likes you.

The length of the contract depends upon the type of school and how administrators feel about their FTs. Several years ago, I saw a lot of one-term contracts being offered by universities. I've never seen nine-month contracts. Perhaps franchise language schools offer those contracts.

I was offered three-year contracts at two schools, but I declined. I dodged a bullet at one of those schools.

[papuadn]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

I may have been asked to sign a new contract at renewal. I just don't remember. If I did sign new contracts, there must not have been anything irregular or strange about them for me to remember them.

[teenoso]

My experience has been that the Uni asks your intentions on renewal very early (april in the second semester), so they know how many continuing teachers they have, then the renewal process and contract signing starts maybe a month before the end of the semester.
Some teachers at my last school were asked to retake the medical if renewing, some were not, with no rhyme or reason to it.

Last year when I was leaving , the FAO and foreign languages school were reorganised with new management who decided to change contract terms , and clean house with several teachers not being given the option to renew. From stories I've heard this is not uncommon, so have a plan B.
But always there seems to be plenty of notice.

[doogsville]

I'm just about to start year 6 at the same uni. They contact me every year about April or May, though the last couple of years they've assumed I'm staying so I had to contact them just to make sure I definitely have a new contract. We have a brief meeting for me to check and sign the contract and that's that. I get paid for the summer holiday since the old contracts end on the last day of the semester and the new contract starts the very next day.

As someone else mentioned they usually try to get all the contracts signed by the end of May or early July so they can go on holiday in the summer knowing everything's in place. There's no reason why you can't ask them about the next contract now.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

[papuadn]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

[papuadn]

[huoguojiggae2017]

Just turn your cell phone off before you do the deed. You don't want to have to hold the midget snake with one hand, the cup with the other, and then answer the phone.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

Your interpretation of the event casually suggests hospital personnel are wildly negligent, which surprises me a little bit. I've been in three such office/labs now and, though their examination procedure/spaces are odd to my US expectations, such a conclusion is unlikely.

Oh, little grasshopper. Some day you will find yourself in an outpost of progress in the hinterlands where round-eyed people have been discussed but never seen, where blood is drawn with knitting needles, and the ecg machine is a relic from the cold war that was once used to detect seismic activity during an atomic bomb blast. It will be larger than a picnic table.

You will be followed through your physical examination in various stages of undress by a very curious, smiling, unwashed peasant woman carrying a bag of live ducks who will come to your aid when the doctor slaps your chest x-ray onto the light board. That x-ray will be an x-ray of a child who met a tragic end, his ribs broken like so many strands of uncooked spaghetti.

That wise peasant will push her finger onto your bare chest, point to the glowing x-ray, and utter, "Yabba yabba yabba," which means "Those are not his ribs. Mr. Round Eyes has a much larger chest." The doctors will hand you a cigarette in embarrassment, hoping that his token of friendship will save face for his mistake.

You will accept the smoke and a light (even though you don't smoke) and you will speculate that the lady with the bag of ducks is probably pretty hot looking after she has showered and you have downed several bottles of Prince Premium beer.

That is my China experience. It may be yours some day if you are lucky.


Reason for edit: grammar and spelling.

[Non Sequitur]

Chuckle..

[Foo_Fighters_Dave]

Are there major differences between Public and Private Universities in China? I have heard that one of them have better students while the other is one where Chinese go if they can't get into a good university.

[cdchristy]