Job Discussion Forums

[Enkates]

Many of the jobs advertised at this site and others are for Saudi Arabia. The country has a rather small population, and I know that learning English is not really very popular there. So why the great demand? Could it be that foreign teachers do not stay very long? I would like to know how long the average Saudi Arabian job lasts. Are teachers leaving before their contracts are over? Are they signing up for additional time? I have prepared a poll. If you have ever worked in Saudi Arabia, please mark how long your stay there was. Also, if you would, please post the reason your stay in Saudi Arabia was the length that it was, if you worked there more than once or for more than one place, and perhaps why you suppose there are so many ads for jobs in this relatively sparsely populated nation. Thank you for your participation.

[Enkates]

I will not participate in my own poll, but for the sake of frankness I will tell you I worked in KSA for about two and a half years the first time around 2009, and left for personal reasons, and the second time for three months because Laureate is the worst possible school.

[Gamajorba]

I'll be finishing 1 year soon. I've absolutely hated being here quite frankly, but I stuck it out because I don't give up very easily, and I try and stay strong.

So yeah, hating the country is 1 reason to leave, and going to pastures anew is another!

The government are trying to get everyone educated from what I understand, but Saudi being Saudi, it's gonna take YEARS for anything to really change. I've literally never dreamed of being in a place as poorly disorganised or pathetic as this. Nowhere else in the world can you fabricate your students marks because your manager told you to in order to make the place look good and keep students happy, even if they do naff all work. It's beyond belief.

I know teachers who have been in Saudi for well over a decade, but then I've known some who don't even last a year because it's too tough going. What I've found most remarkable was 1 teacher who spent 3 years there WITHOUT leaving once, even for vacation!

[murray1978]

Hi,

I am finishing up my one year contract at a TVTC in Al Wajh Saudi Arabia. Contracts have been offered for teachers to renew. However, I flip flop on wanting to come back.

I like the money and staff at my college but there is nothing to do in Al Wajh, the students are apathetic and unmotivated and I don't want to be a sellout for the almighty dollar.

I like KSA because it has given me a nice nest egg after a year so I can try different things like get my CELTA and head to a different country.

I have heard a lot of negative things about Laureate. Why is it so bad?

[johnslat]

Dear murray1978

Laureate runs a "university" in Santa Fe, NM. It's so bad because it's a "for profit" corporation (similar to the "University" of Phoenix and Kaplan) and all it's interested in is the bottom line (i.e. profits).

Administrators are under intense pressure to maximize those profits to the exclusion of any other considerations, such as the students'/teachers' welfare or well-being.

"“They have turned education into a commodity that focuses more on profit than knowledge,” says Robson Leite, the Rio state legislator who led the probe. Laureate counters that several of its schools in Brazil have improved in government rankings since 2009.

Laureate has stirred controversy throughout Latin America, where it derives two-thirds of its revenue. In October, Chile’s National Accreditation Commission voted to strip accreditation from one of the company’s schools, Santiago-based Universidad de Las Americas, or UDLA.

In its decision, the commission wrote that, since 2010, UDLA’s academic standards have suffered as it has added almost 10,000 students while reducing the number of full- and half-time teachers to 399 from 408. Graduation rates were as low as 15 percent in some majors.

“The unsatisfactory results revealed in this evaluation process show a serious problem in academic operations,” the group wrote.
‘Flunk Out’

Some UDLA students say its reputation has declined.

“I meet people all the time who transfer here when they flunk out elsewhere,” says Arturo Bisono, 25, an agronomy major. “This has become the place you go when no one else will accept you.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-06/clinton-pitches-kkr-backed-college-chain-amid-controversy

Regards,
John

[water rat]

-click here-

[caliph]

BILL CLINTON STEPS DOWN FROM POSITION AT LAUREATE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES

Perfect!

[hash]

[Paul in Saudi]

Nineteeen years in October.

[mnruman]

[johnslat]

Dear Paul in Saudi,

Congratulations - you're about to tie my mark. Has it been continuous? If so, you must be even crazier than I am.

No, you don't have to be whacko to live and work for a long time in Saudi, but admittedly, it does give you a head start over others when you first arrive.

Regards,
John

[bigdurian]

[quote="Gamajorba"]I'll be finishing 1 year soon. I've absolutely hated being here quite frankly, but I stuck it out because I don't give up very easily, and I try and stay strong.

So yeah, hating the country is 1 reason to leave, and going to pastures anew is another!

The government are trying to get everyone educated from what I understand, but Saudi being Saudi, it's gonna take YEARS for anything to really change. I've literally never dreamed of being in a place as poorly disorganised or pathetic as this.[b] Nowhere else in the world can you fabricate your students marks because your manager told you to in order to make the place look good and keep students happy[/b], even if they do naff all work. It's beyond belief.

I know teachers who have been in Saudi for well over a decade, but then I've known some who don't even last a year because it's too tough going. What I've found most remarkable was 1 teacher who spent 3 years there WITHOUT leaving once, even for vacation![/quote][color=red][/color]


Not true, many countries in SE Asia are exactly the same.

[MixtecaMike]

Finishing up now after eight years, mainly for family reasons. There were/are lots of other frustrations, but the pay has been enough to override most of them. My comparative longevity here is largely to do with being in Jubail, which despite heinous accusations in the past of pollution and other things has been quite a nice place to live and raise two kids.

[Gamajorba]

[mnruman]