Job Discussion Forums

[ben.detw]

Does anyone have any information about this university? So far, I have yet to find much information about this place. My friend is telling me that it is a nice place to teach. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ben

[Non Sequitur]

I've taught nearby and it is in a uni area. Maritime, Technology and Finance and Economics Us close by.
It was discussed in a thread a few years back with mixed views but nothing really negative.
That whole area is a technology park with some ultra modern architecture.
Provided it checks out salary, accom, hours and travel allowance I see no issues.
Dalian is nice enough. Winter a bit brisk for my liking but then I'm from milder climes.

[jenblue13]

I used to teach there...

It isn't a bad place, especially if this will be your first university job in China. I was always paid on time. Lesson planning is shared with all the other foreign teachers, which is helpful if you need ideas (or don't like to write lesson plans). I think a standard full-time schedule is 10 classes (20 hours) per week if you teach only speaking, less if you have writing classes. Seemed to always be opportunities for overtime.

The main thing I disliked about the place was the location. It is in Software Park on top of a hill, so walking on/off the campus took at least 15 minutes. I guess this wouldn't be so bad if you like taking taxis though.

[Non Sequitur]

..and then there's the buses. The park is very close to one of the main bus routes into Dalian city.

[ben.detw]

Thanks for the help!

What is the best night spot in Dalian?

Are there cheap hotels around downtown?

What is the best Thai restaurant in Dalian?

[PBirm123]

I'm living in Dalian at the moment. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

[Miura Anjin]

I worked at this university for a couple of years in the early part of this decade so although I’m a bit late to this thread, I hope this information will be useful to someone at some point in the future. My overall experience at Neusoft was a positive one and everything I’m posting here is based on my experience, so things may have changed in the intervening years.

The standard contract is for 20 hours per week teaching Oral English to English majors or non-English majors. The English majors are freshmen and sophomores, while the non-English majors are sophomores who major in subjects like graphic design, software engineering and video game design, to name but a few. There are also writing, business and advanced English courses for English majors. Teachers who have the writing and advanced classes might only have 16 or 18 teaching hours per week scheduled. There were no office hours during my time there. There were also plenty of opportunities for overtime, and very few English Corners.

Neusoft is a private university so the students generally come from well-off families and many of them performed badly on their college entrance examinations. As such, their English ability is often lacking and their motivation is low. That’s not to say that everyone is stupid and lazy. Within each class I found there were always students who were eager to learn. Each class also had a broad spectrum of abilities, from those who were comfortable and articulate when conversing with native speakers to those whose only response to “hello, how are you?” was “shenme yisi?”. We were told mainly just to “get the students talking”, which I’m sure is what foreign teachers are commonly told at schools across the country.

Teachers were split into groups for the Oral English course depending on what their classes’ majors were (some were three-year and some were four-year degrees). We were supposed to work together, so one teacher would plan two units per semester and share their plans with the rest of their group via the school’s server so other teachers could save time and just adjust the plans to suit their own styles. Some teachers, for whatever reason, declined to do this. We were also required to submit our own lesson plan and a PPT for each lesson that we taught, although there were no regulations on length or detail.

Due to the students’ lack of motivation regarding learning English, it seems many teacher sonly stay at the school for a year or do a runner half way through. During my first year the school released one teacher from his contract at the end of the first semester (for incompetence? I think he fell asleep in class) and another halfway through the second semester for gross misconduct. Also, the fact that many students are not motivated led some teachers (mainly the younger ones, in my experience) to feel that it wasn’t a proper job and therefore they didn’t need to do the planning that they were supposed to, just turn up and chat or put on a movie each week. There were, however, diligent teachers among the foreign staff too.

I found the Chinese staff in the International Department and the English Department to be friendly and helpful, sometimes even too indulgent of some teachers. We were always paid on time, expect for one instance where nobody in the entire school was paid on time due to some computer error or something. Residence permits, contracts and other paperwork was all done on time and flight reimbursals were given in cash, as were the travel allowances. We were also given a Walmart gift card for Teachers’ Day and a Christmas bonus which I think was performance-related (well, everyone got different amounts anyway). For those returning for another year, the school organised flights from Dalian to our home country or, in the case of one teacher, to Thailand for a holiday as he didn’t want to go back to his country. This meant that I was able to fly with a much nicer airline than I would’ve done had I booked the flights myself. They also paid for one teacher to go to Hong Kong to get his tourist visa converted to a work visa. I don’t know if that’d be possible with the new regulations, but it showed some generosity, I thought.

Communication between Chinese and foreign staff was generally good, although there was the usual problem of late notice of holidays and make-up days. Also on one occasion the school moved Monday’s and Tuesday’s classes to Saturday and Sunday and told everyone but me.

Accommodation was onsite in a dormitory with no curfew, although the security man would put a bike lock on the doors overnight so you’d have to bang on his window to get him to let you in if you got back in the early hours of the morning. Mostly single rooms, although there were couples’ rooms too. The rooms were renovated a few years ago, and air conditioners, new showers, and fake wood flooring were installed. I found the room to be reasonably comfortable.

The school’s located in the Software Park area of Dalian, up a hill at the end of a long road. It’s a ten minute walk to the nearest bus stop to get downtown, which usually took about 30 minutes (or an hour in rush hour traffic). There were also usually a row of taxis outside the school gate, but the drivers would often refuse fares so it made going out somewhat stressful at times. That hill was a drag in the winter because there was often a strong icy wind blowing down, so many people found they had to turn around and walk backwards a bit just to catch their breath. Despite that, I didn’t mind the location too much as I didn’t need or want to go into town that often: there are big and small supermarkets near the school, lots of cheap restaurants (and a few expensive ones), parks and a beach not too far away. Things regarding public transport and traffic may have changed since I was there, though.

The school canteens offered a wide range of food for less than 10 RMB. I ate there most days, cooked at home a few times, and ate out at cheap places. I was able to save enough to go to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Japan in the winter vacations.

Overall, I would recommend the school but with the warning that the number of students lacking any kind of motivation can be frustrating and demoralising at times.

[drjtrekker]

Hey ben,

U have posted before about DL, no?
Did u live/work there before?

well, anyhoo, for what it's worth, I worked at DUFE/SIB for many years, until the past july.

Quite a few teachers had come from there, to either work with us or at Surrey.

First of all, compared to DUFE, SIB, SURREY, its a crap job.
5-6000 for 20 hours? are u kidding me?

Secondly, the teachers that had worked there were not pleased.

Take it for what its worth.
IF you set on DL, I think u could do much better....
BUT, maybe it's changed in the last year.

Good luck,

JD

[ben.detw]

JD,

I ended up finishing the year out with Neusoft last school year and now work for Dalian Maritime. DMU is much nicer than Neusoft in basically every respect. The experience was positive as it was my first job in China, but I would never sign on for a second year. All of your accounts about the school are still accurate and not much has changed.

I had a job offer from Surrey, but ended up rejecting it because of the workload and they wanted me to teach writing. Overall, Dalian is a nice city to live in and I am happy to be here now that I have a nice apartment and great job.

Ben

[Non Sequitur]

Good to hear that DMU is still a good place to work Ben.

[drjtrekker]

I hear ya on SURREY.

I still have quite a few friends there...it was the running joke every year that there would be a NEW curric, and a new system...and literally was.

Yeah, they have meetings on how to have meetings, so I hear...extra hours, working into the holiday....just doesn't seem worth it.

In fact, they try to have a high standard, Master's at a minimum, and every year they end up hiring non native speakers to fill the holes!! haha...
or people always jumping ship.