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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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 Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 6:51 am Post subject: Tsinghua University update? |
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I know there was a thread about three years ago on Tsinghua University teaching. Any update on the scene there from FTs in the know? I am considering an offer from there, as a meagre English instructor. But I have to say it doesn't sound like anything much better than a standard ESL job, only less money. I assume the students must be great. Or are they so brain dead from cramming for the gaokao that they have lost all enthusiasm for learning and life?
The campus also doesn't seem particularly attractive. I did go there about 12 years ago, and I wasn't that impressed then. The videos on YouTube suggest it remains a little bland, certainly compared to many universities in western countries.
The one main attraction for me would be designing and teaching programmes. I'm something of a curriculum designer. Designing and delivering programmes at Tsinghua would be enjoyable, and a nice little boost for my career, I should think. |
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The bear
Joined: 16 Aug 2015
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:46 am Post subject: Re: Tsinghua University update? |
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| RiverMystic wrote: |
I know there was a thread about three years ago on Tsinghua University teaching. Any update on the scene there from FTs in the know? I am considering an offer from there, as a meagre English instructor. But I have to say it doesn't sound like anything much better than a standard ESL job, only less money. I assume the students must be great. Or are they so brain dead from cramming for the gaokao that they have lost all enthusiasm for learning and life?
The campus also doesn't seem particularly attractive. I did go there about 12 years ago, and I wasn't that impressed then. The videos on YouTube suggest it remains a little bland, certainly compared to many universities in western countries.
The one main attraction for me would be designing and teaching programmes. I'm something of a curriculum designer. Designing and delivering programmes at Tsinghua would be enjoyable, and a nice little boost for my career, I should think. |
Only reason to go there would be to have it on your C.V.
As you said, the package isn't great. From memory (they offered me a position 2 years ago), it was 10,000/month- 9,000 after tax, shared accommodation (with hot water between 7-9am and 7-9pm), and you had to create your own materials/curriculum.
I know a teacher who worked there in the summer and seems this hasn't changed.
For the qualified/experienced there are better positions out there for sure. |
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rioux
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
Posts: 880
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: Tsinghua University update? |
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| RiverMystic wrote: |
| shared accommodation |
That's all it would take to skip out on it. |
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The bear
Joined: 16 Aug 2015
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:36 pm Post subject: Re: Tsinghua University update? |
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| rioux wrote: |
| RiverMystic wrote: |
| shared accommodation |
That's all it would take to skip out on it. |
Yeah, me too. One of the reasons I didn't take the job.
Teachers had their own bedroom but shared everything else. Though, I can't be 100% sure on shared bathroom. Also, there were no cooking facilities and teachers weren't allowed to buy hot plates or rice cookers.
So much for working at a 'top university'. |
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rioux
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
Posts: 880
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 11:30 pm Post subject: Re: Tsinghua University update? |
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| The bear wrote: |
Also, there were no cooking facilities and teachers weren't allowed to buy hot plates or rice cookers.
So much for working at a 'top university'. |
Incredible.
Were they at least allowed to have a microwave? |
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 10:27 am Post subject: |
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Thanks folks for the input.
There are apartments available for married couples. But they said they require "rent." Don't know how much. Apartments with kitchens cost more.
The pay might be about 14 000 for a PhD, if you teach 18 hours a week. But it seems like a heap of work. |
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| 4400 a month for the apartment, I have learned. Seems like they don't really want anyone to work there, other than homeless bums relocating to teach English abroad. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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'apartments with kitchens cost more' in the older posts got me.
Ones with windows are even pricier.
I wonder sometimes if the 'name' schools trade on that for teachers as well as students.
A student I met on a train once told me he had accepted a place in the school of Russian language at a big name Beijing school because the prestige mattered more than the major.
He was travelling with his mother and she agreed with this. |
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The bear
Joined: 16 Aug 2015
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Non Sequitur wrote: |
'apartments with kitchens cost more' in the older posts got me.
Ones with windows are even pricier.
I wonder sometimes if the 'name' schools trade on that for teachers as well as students.
A student I met on a train once told me he had accepted a place in the school of Russian language at a big name Beijing school because the prestige mattered more than the major.
He was travelling with his mother and she agreed with this. |
They are. The trouble is that the majority of Chinese people would agree with this. It's all about brand/name.
My Chinese boss couldn't accept the university I'm going to teach at next semester, kept listing 'better' universities. It was futile trying to tell him that it may be good for students but things that matter to me, like accommodation, location, salary, teaching atmosphere, workload etc are better elsewhere.
I've found that for foreign English teachers (big difference here) teaching at those universities...well, let's say they ask a lot but give a little. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2016 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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The crazy thing is that salary etc is pretty much the same across all state and provincial tertiaries including vocationals.
I would rather have a decent apartment in a 2nd tier school than a hovel at a Beijing 'prestigious' outfit.
An academic may choose prestigious school, but not a lowly FT. |
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The bear
Joined: 16 Aug 2015
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:08 am Post subject: |
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| Non Sequitur wrote: |
The crazy thing is that salary etc is pretty much the same across all state and provincial tertiaries including vocationals.
I would rather have a decent apartment in a 2nd tier school than a hovel at a Beijing 'prestigious' outfit.
An academic may choose prestigious school, but not a lowly FT. |
Exactly.
The only people that job would appeal to would be those that care about it on a C.V. or just want the experience of working there for a year (the naive as well, I suppose).
These unis get by on name only.
Put things on paper but with no names e.g. compare the salary, cost of living, apartment, work duties etc. Then see which job you prefer. |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 1308
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| Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:49 am Post subject: |
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The offer and housing does seem shocking but I'm just wondering if you would be a shoe in for ridiculous part time jobs if you worked there.
Maybe you'd be asked to judge a competition and could ask for 500 an hour because they could sa 'today our judge is a teacher from Peking! or Tsinghua!'.
Also I wonder if the tuhao people who send their kids to Beijing would foam at te mouth at the chance to have a foreigner wh oworks at Tsinghua teach their kids, they could brag about it at a lunchtime meeting.
Then again maybe they wouldn't care and still insist on only paying 150. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 10:42 am Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
Then again maybe they wouldn't care and still insist on only paying 150. |
I am sure if they found out what Tsinghua was actually paying their foreign teachers they wouldn't want to pay anymore. |
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
The offer and housing does seem shocking but I'm just wondering if you would be a shoe in for ridiculous part time jobs if you worked there.
Maybe you'd be asked to judge a competition and could ask for 500 an hour because they could sa 'today our judge is a teacher from Peking! or Tsinghua!'.
Also I wonder if the tuhao people who send their kids to Beijing would foam at te mouth at the chance to have a foreigner wh oworks at Tsinghua teach their kids, they could brag about it at a lunchtime meeting.
Then again maybe they wouldn't care and still insist on only paying 150. |
Apparently the job is a lot of work, so there wouldn't be a lot of free time to do private gigs. However, I'm still considering it. Interestingly, my Chinese partner is dead set against it, simply because of the crap money. |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 1308
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| Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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Wow. Sounds like you'd not be capable of saving anything then.
You wouldn't even be able to take advantage of saying you work there |
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