Job Discussion Forums

rustyrockets · Last edited by rustyrockets on Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:26 am; edited 1 time in total

So I recently got an offer to interview with Mondragon Muhayil College in Tabuk (this is their site http://coemam.edu.sa/?lang=en). The actual administration is from Spain and they have this project in Saudi. I would like to know if someone knows anything about them, and also if you know about Tabuk as a region. I have lived in the gulf before but not in Saudi and I am female.

The only thing concerning me is that I got this interview through networking, and the person that I made the contact with told me that they were struggling to keep the female staff as they end up getting tired of life in there and quitting.

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

The female college is in Al Wajh, in Tabuk Province. I suspect it's fairly new.

By the way, think about changing the subject of your thread since you mainly should be asking about the college. The working conditions may also be the reason why female teachers don't stay. (That should be enough of a red flag.)

bigdurian · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:00 am Post subject:

There's two things you have to think of. The college and the place. They are probably both linked. Tabuk is a bit of a backwater so there's not much to do for westerners etc, because of this people don't want to stay there for too long, because of this the people who do stay are probably overworked and the college is understaffed.

I might be wrong on that but I might not. There's only one way to find out. On the plus side, it does get quite cold there in winter and you might get a bit of snow. Just make sure you seek guidance from a cleric before making a snowthing.

buravirgil · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:16 am Post subject:

There's no snow at the altitude of the city proper. Locals have to drive up pretty far to play in the dusting that it is and it's not every year. There was a flood the year I arrived, '09, water in the street 18 inches high. It had been decades since floods like that. And then it seemed like it never rained again.

I left Christmas Day, 2012, and what I can relate is likely limited. My employer was a contractor and the local name of the college at which my female teammates worked escapes me.

But I will conjecture: Accommodation. If it's not the British, American, or Al Khareem (a former BAE officers') compounds, don't do it. Maybe yours is a new institution and it has a campus that serves teachers because there's so much construction, but if not, don't accept any apartment scenario unless you're eager to learn and adopt Saudi beliefs, practices, etc.

rustyrockets · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:25 am Post subject:

Well I want to find out about both the region and this particular college. Yes the only thing I heard is that it is not as hot as the rest of the country (or the gulf) and I would also like to know about how conservative the area is and how much contact with locals is actually possible or if all expats are shoved into compounds...

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

A bit about Mondragon Al-Wajh Female College, work/life conditions:

buravirgil · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:47 am Post subject:

The nights can be colder, but it's still hot as hell. The best description I heard: When I walk out my door, it's like having a hair-dryer held to my face.

Locals: Interactions at markets and malls are fine. But living among the people of Tabuk was not achieved in the few scenarios related to me-- even when the teachers were Muslim. In fact, our Muslim teachers wanted on the compound and a few were allowed. It's cleaner, spacious, and no petty crimes.

The women were challenged by the arrangement and expense of taxis as far as contact with the locals and getting into the city.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Al Wajh is a long way from Tabuk. It has its own airport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Wajh

Tabuk is VERY COLD in winter and VERY HOT in summer. I left Tabuk in 1972, but went back on business in the time I was working for the airline.

It has little to recommend it.

buravirgil · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:30 am Post subject:

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I remember using a fan in the summer and having a paraffin heater in the winter. Air conditioning and central heating were a luxury for the elite then,The worst weeks of the summer were in the school vacation and when that came along I was propping up a bar in Dublin or Edinburgh !

The USP when I was there was the proximity to Jordan. Access to Jordan was easier in those, more peaceful times. I remember a trip to Petra near Ma'an.

At that time the secondary school where I taught was the only one in the region and we had students from as far as Al-Wajh and Al-Ula. There was a huge construction site run by a German company. (Philip Holzman, who had in a previous era built the Berlin to Baghdad Railway.)

buravirgil · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:07 am Post subject:

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I remember in June in Tabuk that my trick was to have a shower and then, without drying myself, lie on my bed with the fan blowing over me.

Air-conditioning has changed everything in KSA.

rustyrockets · Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:23 pm Post subject:

God bless the almighty AC! Very Happy

ak47 · Joined: 30 Oct 2012 Posts: 2

The college you mention does't exist in Tabuk. It is in Aseer Region.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

It moved ?

The map on the website shows a location between Abha and the Red Sea. So whu all this about Tabuk and Al-Wejh ?