Job Discussion Forums

may be going · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 129 Location: australia

i agree with everything you said. you agreed with what i said. while i acknowledge that 'that's the way it is' re. necessary qualifications in japan for univ work, it's still way over the top for what's required.

again, the fact a trained teacher may know methodolgy and be intrinsically better equipped to impart esl wisdom, jobs in japanese unis don't require it.

i must admit that if i had a jap. uni job i'd be happy they made it so hard for others coz it reduces the level of potential competition. but in all honesty, you can't really say that the qualifications required aren't a little over the top for what they ask you to do.

but you're there and i'm not so dang dang dang.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

may be going · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 129 Location: australia

i'm teaching EAP, general english and ielts test prep. it's very casualised in oz. to get casual work at uni you generally need a masters and extensive experience. more about who you know though. isn't it always?

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

may be going · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 129 Location: australia

well we've hijacked this thread. but suffice to say teaching at uni in oz is different from both korea an japan. but i would imagine that teaching at the top unis in korea would be similar to japan. it's easy to get a crap uni job in korea but not at all easy to get a great uni job

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

What are the demographics like in Korea. One of the biggest, if not the biggest issue facing unis in Japan as a whole is the aging population here. Some estimates think that up to half of all the unis in Japan will close in the next generation or two. Unless something is done quickly, like opening Japan up to immigration, this country is in deep crap. The birth rate drops every year and there is no influx of immigrants to balance it off.
The future in Japanese language universities is not good, most unis have shrinking enrollment. Fortunately, for me, my university opened up 2 new depts and buildings in the past year and enrollment has gone up by about 20%. The previous year we lost about 15%, so it has stabilized.

Guess we're back on topic. Sorry to the OP.

may be going · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 129 Location: australia

i'm certainly no expert but i think in most areas korea seems to sit behind japan by about 20 years. so at the moment unis are still full to the brim. in a country so obsessed with image in every facet uni is paramount to all youngsters.

that in itself is why i think you get a lot of crap teachers in korean unis. coz the demand is higher than the supply of good teachers. everyone wants to be at uni. a bad bad bad uni is better than college. and college is better than no tertiary educ.

so anyone, well almost anyone, can get a uni ob in kroea if they stick around a year or two and network a little. but getting the good ones is hard coz everyone knows what i've just said so competition is fierce to get the good gigs.

i imagine korea might go through japan's current troubles in, say, 20 years....

hamel · Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 95

good thread. i was at a foreign lang college before the imf collapse in 1997 and you had to have an ma to work there. some of the best teachers i've seen and a lot had years of experience. the ma tesol people seem/ed more like technicians and the liberal arts people seemed better educated overall and even creative--example, social work grad degree. but then and now western teaching credentials are very helpful to land the top jobs at universities and foreign schools--and that could be a masters in elementary ed for example to teach esl at at a top university. but salaries are not that good even at the top schools. housing quality is also something to take into consideration as a perk here.

a knew a phd in my university whos hobby was researching ufos--and he was really into that. funny

recently, some universities are having trouble getting and keeping students. some schools are having to merge to stay afloat. in the past i visited snu (korean harvard) and tokyo u--tokyo u is like cambridge in the uk and was very impressive. snu was unimpressive to me.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

This is for those asking about referreed international publications and where you can submit articles:

International Education Journal, produced by Flinders University in Australia

http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/mainframe.htm

May the best man win...

Yaya · Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:18 pm Post subject:

The sad thing about Korean unis are that most are in cash crunches. I know quite a few people who are getting worked more since budget cuts are forcing them to do so.

I agree with the poster that says many Korean unis will go belly-up in a decade or so. It's hard to sell your product to people who are concerned about finding a good job after graduation, and many of the lesser unis will have a very difficult time to do that.

I think a growing aging population is a problem in Korea, but not as bad as the poster who mentioned it says it is. Japan is the one that has to worry about that, not to mention Europe as well. I hear the birth rate for Caucasian Euros has fallen to 1.5 kids.