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Alien abductee · Joined: 08 Jun 2014 Posts: 527 Location: Kuala Lumpur

Riff raff, This gets the Question

award for the day Very Happy

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

OP:

You seem to be under the impression that each teacher is employed on a case-by-case basis by a committee. That's not how it works. A division of the provincial government (or maybe even the central government) which is probably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Education decides whether the school even needs foreign teachers and has the capacity to adhere to the somewhat fluid rules regarding hiring teachers. Based upon criteria unknown to me, schools are granted authority to hire foreign teachers. That's how it works. Once the school has the authority, as long as the teacher adheres to various criteria to qualify as a teacher in China, the school continues to hire FTs until (I imagine) there's some sort of review of the school. I know of one case in which a school lost its ability to employ foreign teachers.

A private school can make some sort of application for authority to hire foreign teachers, and the last time I checked, one of the criteria was that the school had to be in business for a minimum of thirteen months. That's not the main office, but one criterion for each branch school in each city. That was the law two years ago. The law may have changed since then.

If you're in China and applying for jobs, BE SURE that the school has the authority to hire foreign teachers. It may have FTs onboard, but it may not be authorized to hire them. You may find yourself signing a contract, and a year later, you'll realize that your L visa expired and has not been changed to a Z visa, and you have no resident permit. Then you're scrod.

There's more to the scenario, but I'll let you find out for yourself.

If you're asking whether there's a committee that will decide whether to hire you (or not based) upon a review of your merits (or lack thereof), the answer is no. The school FAO can trash your application for no reason whatsoever. Once your resume goes to the circular file, there's no appeals process. A little tip: if you continue to apply to public universities and colleges in second and third tier cities, but you keep striking out, either change your resume, get better references, or give up.

There are situations in which the PSB can deny you a residence permit, and then there's the medical exam that you'll take if the FAO likes what he sees on paper. If you fail that, you're out.

Riff Raff · Joined: 09 Jun 2014 Posts: 85

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

Riff Raff · Joined: 09 Jun 2014 Posts: 85

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

About what do you disagree? I'm interested in knowing. I don't claim to know everything about China or about the mysterious ways in which decisions arte often made in China. If you can cast light where there is darkness, I'd appreciate it. Really. Smile

Under what circumstances would the hiring of an ordinary foreign teacher be the result of a conclave of FAO's? I could see such a decision being made if the teacher were someone special who might cost satellite campuses of a major university serious money because he would teach/lecture at all of the campuses. I'm not sure that that even happens, but if it does, I could see FAO's at the related, satellite campuses having a say in the hiring of the teacher. It seems to be a far-fetched and more democratic a scenario than one might see in China.

Why are you asking about such a thing? Do you feel that your employment/unemployment is or has been subject to the decision of a formal committee?

Certainly, records of foreigners in China are kept, the extent of which isn't really known beyond what appears in a passport, his resume, and whatever a previous employer may relate to an FT's present employer. I don't really think that employers even care about the private lives of their teachers unless they're banging students (some FAO's don't care) or are engaged in illegal activity.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

The biggest school I have worked at had 18 FTs at full complement.
As far as I could tell we were all hired by the one person.
I imagine he got sign off higher up but don't think his decisions were seriously questioned.
Despite it being a Tier One uni we got our share of drunks, womanisers, ones with major health issues, religious proselytizers and out and out incompetents.
At the end of the day it was a head count.