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imjustme
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 28
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 Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:13 am Post subject: Warning! Nanjing Institute of Industry Technology (NIIT) |
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This may sound like sour grapes, and it's my first post here, but I'm writing in the hope of sparing someone else the trouble.
Nanjing Institute of Industry Technology (NIIT) have fired me halfway through my contract on spurious grounds, alleging first of all that I had "numerous absences," when in fact I took just two sick days.
They then cheated me out of 1500 RMB on my final month's pay, justifying this with my supposed failure to turn up for end-of-term testing. In fact, I showed up exactly when and where directed, but since the college had bungled the schedule, was hours too late. Not my fault at all.
I should have seen the writing on the wall back in November, when a teachers' meeting was convened to showcase a bright new idea: Let's get rid of all our foreign teachers! This is China, after all (so the reasoning went), our students are all Chinese, and they'd do much better with all Chinese teachers! You wouldn't expect this in an "international college," but there it was.
NIIT will entice you with pay of 7500 RMB/mo, more than many colleges and unis pay, but if my experience is anything to go by, they'll likely fire you for being a foreigner, lie about you, and cheat you. They may be a state-run college, but they're as bad as any cutthroat training center.
I've sent a complaint to SAFEA, but so far have not received a response.
Avoid this place. You can do much better. |
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rogerwilco
Joined: 10 Jun 2010
Posts: 1549
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:55 am Post subject: Re: Warning! Nanjing Institute of Industry Technology (NIIT |
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| imjustme wrote: |
I should have seen the writing on the wall back in November, when a teachers' meeting was convened to showcase a bright new idea: Let's get rid of all our foreign teachers! This is China, after all (so the reasoning went), our students are all Chinese, and they'd do much better with all Chinese teachers! You wouldn't expect this in an "international college," but there it was.
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Were you at the meeting ? How do you know what was said ?
Was it the only topic at the meeting, or was it something that was just mentioned ?
I am not doubting you, just seeking more details. Thanks. |
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imjustme
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 28
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Warning! Nanjing Institute of Industry Technology (NIIT |
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| rogerwilco wrote: |
| imjustme wrote: |
I should have seen the writing on the wall back in November, when a teachers' meeting was convened to showcase a bright new idea: Let's get rid of all our foreign teachers! This is China, after all (so the reasoning went), our students are all Chinese, and they'd do much better with all Chinese teachers! You wouldn't expect this in an "international college," but there it was.
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Were you at the meeting ? How do you know what was said ?
Was it the only topic at the meeting, or was it something that was just mentioned ?
I am not doubting you, just seeking more details. Thanks. |
Yes, I was at the meeting.
It was convened, apparently, to showcase the college secretary's bright idea about replacing foreign teachers with Chinese ones. I don't mean "Party secretary," either, but the woman who answers the phone.
In my first encounter with this woman a couple of months previously, I'd asked (politely!) why my kitchen didn't come outfitted with anything--no electric hob, microwave, pots and pans, not a single knife or fork--though all were enumerated and promised in the contract. Her response: "There's a history in Jiangsu province of foreign teachers killing themselves in their kitchens."
That's so wildly sub-stupid that it beggars belief, I know. What did she think I was going to do, hit myself over the head with a rolling pin?
You'd think that colleges and unis would be staffed by more-or-less intelligent and educated people, but dear God! |
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The Great Wall of Whiner
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:21 am Post subject: |
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So much for colleges being secure jobs.
Good luck in whatever your next journey is, sorry to read about your situation. Thanks for the warning. This just goes to show that just as you mentioned, even colleges are not immune to the flights and fancies that private language school bosses subject their staff to. |
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roadwalker
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 1750
Location: Ch
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, it sounds like they won't be hiring any more foreigners, so no need for a warning. Or did I read the OP incorrectly? |
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imjustme
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 28
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:14 pm Post subject: Down the Rabbit Hole |
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| roadwalker wrote: |
| Well, it sounds like they won't be hiring any more foreigners, so no need for a warning. Or did I read the OP incorrectly? |
I don't know myself whether you read me correctly--it's that completely "down the rabbit hole" at a place like NIIT. Correct and incorrect are alien concepts there. I didn't even find out that my real boss was a woman initialized "J" until she fired me in the last week of December. Where is the FAO, meanwhile? God knows; I never saw him except on payday.
They'll hire you because you're a foreigner--just possibly (I'm guessing a tad bit here) because they get a budget to employ foreign teachers, can use you for publicitiy, and so on.
They'll then decide that because you're a foreigner they don't like you. And then fire you. With no forewarning.
Unless, maybe, you're tall and handsome, like another guy there who took five-plus sick days to my two (that I know of), but gets a pass because students "like" him. He's next though--they'll need another scapegoat.
I don't even know why I put the word "like" in quotation marks (inverted commas, for you Brits); the whole thing is too absurd.
So absurd that I must stop replying to my own original post now.
Just avoid this place. |
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piglet44
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Posts: 157
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Is this the same place at NIT nanjing institute of tech or a different one? |
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Miles Smiles
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1294
Location: Heebee Jeebee
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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To the OP:
At one time, I thought that people who told horror stories about experiences at Chinese schools were just crybabies who brought problems upon themselves. I have since changes my attitude. After one incredibly bad experience at one school, I became a believer. There are so many incompetent (I want to say psychopathic) administrators in positions which they should not hold.
I've had similar experiences. At one school, my experiences defy belief. I won't even bother to relate them.
At my last school, everything was hunky dory until I signed a second contract. Things became so unbearable that I went to the City FAO to file a complaint. Even the City FAO couldn't believe what I told her at first. Then, when she made a surprise visit, she saw what was happening. We entered into arbitration and the school agreed to cancel my contract without penalty.
I don't want to hijack the thread. Just know that I believe what you say.
If you feel that you have been wronged, and you have reason to believe that the school is or will be a repeat offender, you should warn others. MOD EDIT Just be fair and stick to the facts. It doesn't take much to scare people away. |
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Nuolan
Joined: 08 Nov 2008
Posts: 36
Location: Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Miles Smiles wrote: |
To the OP:
At one time, I thought that people who told horror stories about experiences at Chinese schools were just crybabies who brought problems upon themselves. I have since changes my attitude. After one incredibly bad experience at one school, I became a believer. There are so many incompetent (I want to say psychopathic) administrators in positions which they should not hold.
I've had similar experiences. At one school, my experiences defy belief. I won't even bother to relate them.
At my last school, everything was hunky dory until I signed a second contract. Things became so unbearable that I went to the City FAO to file a complaint. Even the City FAO couldn't believe what I told her at first. Then, when she made a surprise visit, she saw what was happening. We entered into arbitration and the school agreed to cancel my contract without penalty.
I don't want to hijack the thread. Just know that I believe what you say.
If you feel that you have been wronged, and you have reason to believe that the school is or will be a repeat offender, you should warn others. MOD EDIT Just
be fair and stick to the facts. It doesn't take much to scare people away. |
Come on, let's have it!  |
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Miles Smiles
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1294
Location: Heebee Jeebee
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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| The Great Wall of Whiner wrote: |
"So much for colleges being secure jobs...
"... This just goes to show that just as you mentioned, even colleges are not immune to the flights and fancies that private language school bosses subject their staff to." |
I believe that it's becoming worse in some places. A friend who has been teaching at one public university for more than six years is beginning to experience problems that he should not be experiencing. I taught there for a year. Things were quite good then. Now, he's being undermined by CTs and administrators, while in the past, he enjoyed the glory of being a non-person who did his job well and being someone about whom no one cared. |
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Brian Hugh
Joined: 07 Jan 2012
Posts: 140
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:53 am Post subject: |
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| Also there is the problem of employing the local Chinese graduate. The same thing happened in Korea ten years ago. Koreans go abroad pick up master degrees in teaching English. They too must get work. There is no tenure in teaching English in China. So no matter how secure you think your job is keep sending out the CV's |
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coratheexplorer
Joined: 17 Feb 2012
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Miles Smiles wrote: |
| The Great Wall of Whiner wrote: |
"So much for colleges being secure jobs...
"... This just goes to show that just as you mentioned, even colleges are not immune to the flights and fancies that private language school bosses subject their staff to." |
I believe that it's becoming worse in some places. A friend who has been teaching at one public university for more than six years is beginning to experience problems that he should not be experiencing. I taught there for a year. Things were quite good then. Now, he's being undermined by CTs and administrators, while in the past, he enjoyed the glory of being a non-person who did his job well and being someone about whom no one cared. |
Gosh this is alarming. I suppose it's because of globalization, and the sense that change is happening which scares people?
I saw similar things in my former profession in the states, from which I am now retired. But it was funny because there would be just one simple thing that set it off. A battle between two headstrong people, for instance. And whoever was the winner would start spreading his style of doing things more aggressively, then there would be waves of fear and confusion about which way to do things, which would then divide other offices without them really knowing what was going on. THe ripple effects for just one difficult personality can be intense. The top leader has to have a vision to keep the ship steady. But from what I've been reading it seems like there is little hope of finding competent management in most places.
I am thinking about not going abroad at all, the more I read these boards!! |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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| coratheexplorer wrote: |
| I am thinking about not going abroad at all, the more I read these boards!! |
Do remember:
Those that want to complain make the most noise
Those who really want to help newcomers shout the loudest about the problems rather than what works
China is far from perfect, but don't let the perceived negativity put you off. There is plenty here for the person with the right attitude and skills. |
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psychedelic
Joined: 11 Feb 2003
Posts: 167
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:27 am Post subject: reply to imjustme |
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Hi imjustme,
OMG, what you've gone through sounds like something that would also happen in South Gor-eeeee-uuuuugggghhhhhh!  I've read many horror stories about what foreign teachers have gone through there. I'm sorry to hear of your difficulty. Tough shakes.  |
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PathToChina
Joined: 04 Feb 2012
Posts: 17
Location: California U.S.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:21 am Post subject: Don't ask so many questions |
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From my past experiences of teaching here in China there are some VERY necessary things to remember:
1. Make friends with your director -- For ways to do this without offending anyone because of their culture, do some research!
2. Asking too many question will only result in problems but understanding Chinese culture is essential to surviving here in China. Learn the customs, that may seem ridiculous at first to a 'westerner' but this is how things have been in China for the past 4000 years.
3. If you need anything, try to ask your students to help or another teacher. The FAO's have their work to do and bothering them only makes it worse.
Hope this helps! |
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