Job Discussion Forums

[wintersweet]

http://paul.ilcs.hokudai.ac.jp/PDF%20papers/Recruiting%20LT.pdf

Here's an interesting paper from _The Language Teacher_ from the viewpoint of a hiring committee member for a Japanese university. It's from 2004, but still very interesting. I don't think it's been mentioned here before; my apologies if it has.

Some revealing information: "In total, we received 72 applications, 62 of which were in electronic form. The male-female ratio was 10:1. ... Roughly 40% of all the applicants did not have the minimum requirements as listed in the job announcement. Shortcomings came in two areas: either the applicants did not have a masters or doctorate, or their graduate qualifications were in a field too distant from that required." However, "the successful candidate in the present recruitment has both a doctorate and internationally refereed papers. " (Guess I'm out of luck there.)

[PAULH]

[gaijinalways]

Not only the language teachers! One of my bosses has a degree in a non-teaching subject, has no teaching experience at all, and lo and behold, he's the department head.

[Antonimus Prime]

Looks like applied linguistics> Masters of Education degree when it comes to working in a University here.

[PAULH]

[zignut]

As someone in the process of applying for a MA TESOL in the U.S., this article gives me some pause. As the writer goes out of her way to point out, her results point not just to the strange expectations of the severely underqualified, but also to the abundance of extremely well qualified candidates.

I suppose it's only human nature to want to be just qualified enough. At this time, I'd really rather not plan on getting a PhD only for the sake of job competitiveness, and not necessarily to become a better teacher. This last point is one that did not fall under the scope of the article, but is worth bringing up I think. Certainly, time spent coaching a baseball team is hardly useful in an English classroom, but will additional course time and a doctoral dissertation really improve the quality of one's teaching instead of just one's record of publication?

[PAULH]

[taikibansei]

[taikibansei]

[PAULH]

[quote="taikibansei"]

[Chris21]

I have to agree with Paul, a PhD can be quite useful when looking for a job at a University. I remember reading the full article, and it finishes by saying that there is an ever-increasing pool of highly qualified applicants. Just as Paul said, having a PhD puts you on the top of that pile. And I'd bet that with dwindling enrollment numbers and the need for fewer teachers, a PhD is going to become more of a requirement in the next decade. Again, as Paul said, a quick scan of the job sites shows that most jobs require at least a Masters, a PhD is preferred, a minimum of Masters, Doctorate required. I'd say that it's pretty rare to find a post that at least doesn't imply more than a Masters. But don't get me wrong, you can definitely get a full-time university job with only a Masters... it's just a little more competitive.

As for whether a PhD (or Ed.D) helps you to become a better teacher. I don't think so... the Masters makes you a better teacher and the Doctorate makes you a better researcher. I'm in a Doctorate program right now and of the half-dozen classes I've taken so far, only one offered practical teaching ideas... the others were all about theory and research.

A doctorate is a huge committment of time and money. At the very least, it's about four years of hard work and $30,000. But if you're going to be a lifer in Japan, and you don't (and won't) have tenure very soon, then you might need a doctorate to get tenure in the future (unless you don't mind the 3-year contracts).

My only pet-peeve is when jobs advertise that a PhD is preferred and the applicant must be under 35 years of age. That's awfully young to have already finished a doctorate!

[taikibansei]

[PAULH]

[Chris21]

For anyone with a non-language Masters or PhD - as has been said, it's really difficult to get a uni job with a Masters in Sociology or an MBA... but sometimes jobs come up.

If anyone is interested, the following is a post from Akita International University. They're looking for professors from a wide variety of subject areas... (FYI, it seems to be a PhD-preferred minimum, but they might be flexible if you're well-qualified with only a Masters)

Akita International University

Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences
Undergraduate Positions


Akita International University (AIU), which is expanding its undergraduate degree curriculum, seeks qualified applicants for its developing undergraduate degree programs across the curriculum in all departments, as full, associate, or assistant professors. We are searching for exceptional candidates with a passion for and record of achievement in, classroom teaching and research, with a Ph.D. or equivalent qualifications in specific or closely related fields (see below). Our rapid growth requires additional faculty.
Appointments will be made on an initial three-year (maximum) fixed-term contract basis (with possibility of renewal), beginning on April 1, 2007 (some courses begin on April 1, 2008). AIU offers an attractive salary package with full benefits, generous research assistance, and a housing subsidy.

AIU is a recently opened (2004) public corporation Japanese university in which two undergraduate degree programs in Global Business and Global Studies (including area studies) are offered entirely in English.

Fields of specialization, courses to teach:

Language and Communication
English-for-Academic-Purposes (EAP) EFL skills courses-reading, writing, listening, speaking...also, grammar, self-directed learning, TOEFL (and other test-taking) preparation, basic word processing skills.
Post-EAP (EFL) undergraduate courses-composition (1 and 2), speech communication, intercultural communication, and linguistics Japanese--Japanese language education, Japanese phonetics
Chinese, Korean, and Russian-(beginning to advanced)

Japanese Culture & Society
introduction to Japanese society, Japanese history, Japanese literature, Japanese traditional performing arts, the Constitution of Japan

Culture & History
architecture and culture, comparative cultural studies, cultural anthropology, world civilization, world history

Information and Mathematical Sciences
algebra, computer literacy, information science, statistics

Health and Physical Education
HPE activity, HPE lecture, recreation

Business
international marketing, marketing principles, marketing research

International Relations and Law
international law, international organizations, international relations, law, legal environment of international business

North American Studies
North American economics, North American area studies (including Canada and Mexico), political system of the U.S., social problems in the U.S., U.S. Congress, the U.S. Constitution, U.S. diplomatic history, U.S. legal system, U.S. political thought

East Asian Studies
Asian philosophy, Chinese cinema, Chinese popular culture, modern history of China, U.S-China relations

Education: Japanese Teaching Certificate-Related courses, envisaged in 2008
basic theory of education, comparative education, educational systems, principles and values in teaching, teaching practicum

Qualifications and Conditions:
* To hold a Ph.D. or equivalent qualifications in a specific or closely related field. An earned doctorate degree will be given the first consideration.
* A record of achievement in classroom teaching and research.
* To be able to conduct courses in English.
* To be able to teach at least two courses listed above, both in terms of expertise/experience and workload.
* To be able to effectively teach 10 to 15 hours per week, meet designated office hours, and do academic advising for students.
* During the term of employment, each faculty member is expected to publish at least one academic (refereed) article per year, ideally.
* For a non-native Japanese language speaker, a certain level of Japanese proficiency will be considered an asset.

Application Procedures:
Applicants should send: (1) a cover letter, (2) curriculum vitae, (3) a statement of motive of application, research, and teaching interests, and, (4) three samples of written work, including one academic research article. Applicants should arrange for three letters of reference to be sent to:

Office of Academic Affairs
Akita International University
193-2 Okutsubakidai, Yuwa, Tsubakigawa, Akita-City, Akita 010-1211 Japan
E-mail: [email protected]; FAX: +81-18-886-5910

Application materials can be sent by e-mail or fax, if the originals follow in regular mail. Materials should be received by September 30, 2006. E-mail or FAX copies must be received before September 30. 2006; originals must be postmarked by September 30. Review of applications will begin October 1, 2006, and selected applicants will be called for interviews and teaching presentations in mid-October. Please indicate both on the envelope and at the top of all documents the course area for which you are applying, e.g., "accounting."

The final results will be announced around the end of October, together with the information about the courses in question.

Annual Salary and Other Benefits:
The annual salary is negotiated based on the results of interviews, within the following salary range by the job grade set up by the AIU salary regulation:
Professor: 9.5 million yen to 13 million yen
Associate Professor: 7.5 million yen to 9.5 million yen
Assistant Professor: 5.5 million yen to 7.5 million yen

Other benefits are provided according to the AIU's related regulations.
No retirement allowance is provided.

Other Matters to Note:
Subject to the results of the Education Ministry's credential assessment, the job grade and/or the courses to teach might be changed.
The contract includes a four-month probation period.
AIU conducts an annual performance evaluation of its faculty and staff members, the results of which will be reflected in an annual salary adjustment and in consideration of any contract renewal.

[Chris21]