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globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

A colleague of mine who has taught at both Wollongong and George Mason offers these accounts of both colleges (I am copying and pasting):

I was at Wollongong in 2002, because they were under pressure to hire a few legitimate Western Ph.D.s (That pressure ended in 2003, along with my employment.) Before me, they had about three Arabs and an Iranian who marketed the place, one Aussie lady who ran ESL, and three Aussie senior managers who just sat there. The faculty were Indian women on their husband�s visas getting paid about AED 4,000 per month to teach about 400 students per semester. Students paid about AED 6,000 per class. Total revenue per instructor, AED 4,800,000; total cost for instructor, AED 48,000. I was the only one there who could use Excel, so I got to see the real spreadsheet: They were sending US$10,000,000 a year back to Aus.

They ran as a low-tech distance learning facility. Aus. profs had to prepare their lecture notes and exams, with detailed marking guides. Aus. Fall is Mar � Jun, so the materials from Fall arrived in Dubai in August via surface mail. Having the Indian women read the notes was cheaper than a teleconferencing delivery. The Arabs and the Iranian translated for the Arab and Iranian students. Officially, Aus claimed they were subsidising Dubai. Faculty in Aus. complained about extra work for no extra money, and were told Wollongong was doing this for International Exposure, and the Dubai project was losing a lot of money, so they couldn�t pay Aus faculty extra, it was just something they had to do. The Aus. Faculty Senate voted to kill the costly, unprofitable program, but the administration said they could not comply with the Senate vote, since International Exposure was essential for accreditation.

Faculty in Dubai were told the campus was losing a lot of money, and Aus. could not continue to subsidise, so faculty would have to market more, teach more, and possibly take pay cuts.

But I got to see the real spreadsheet.

Wollongong eventually gave Wollongong Dubai Ph.D.s to all the Indian ladies, so they can say they�re now 100% Ph.D. faculty. Just not legitimate Ph.D. faculty. They also offer a 3 year program, which is very popular, but the Ministry ordered them to offer a 4 year program. The solution: they give students phantom classes for their first year. The Ministry is happy, because the students have 4 year transcripts, and students are happy, since they graduate in 3 years. (Students who need a year of ESL really do take four years to graduate, but that wasn�t what the Ministry said they had in mind. They accept a year of advanced placement for students whose IELTS is already above 3.5, the minimum required for admission. One lady had an IELTS of 3.5 after successfully completing the full Wollongong ESL program, but she was one of their better students.)

The new Director of Wollongong is a member of ******'s gourmet club, and he told her that there had been problems in the past, but that all the problems had been solved and it is now a top quality educational institution. Wollongong faculty tell me otherwise.

Update on GMU: A little bird says they got about 50 students, so that�s a student faculty ratio of about 2:1. Add in admin and that�s a student staff ratio of about 1:1. Hard to see how they can make any money. *****�s friend said all new staff are getting US$50,000 per year, but ****** says they keep telling old faculty that all salaries are the same, and are under review for increase. �Bad bukra, inshallah.�

ghost · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 1693 Location: Saudi Arabia

Isn't Wollongong one of the top Universities in Australia?

If you exposed this news to the Australian or British press, a scandal would result, and you could ask for big fees for the dissemination of this news!

Ghost in Korea

eha · Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 355 Location: ME

When I hear stuff like this, it becomes perfectly clear to me why I and some others I've worked with, have been in constant hot water in our workplaces. We're well-qualified, well-informed, conscientious, articulate, good at our jobs; but NOT into internal politics, brown-nosing, pushiness; we're not snide or undermining to colleagues--- oh, and not easily intimidated into going along with stuff we find unprofessional. No-hopers, obviously.

Burqa Babe · Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 9

Hmm, the reviews of GMU have been a tad harsh! Having such low class numbers actually sounds wonderful to me after the teaming masses at HCT! I heard on the grapevine that the English Centre has a new Director who is competent and affable and has some great plans for the centre. I heard they might need an ESL teacher or two. There are certainly worse places to live than Ras Al Khaimah as well!Might just dust my CV off!

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Since it started GMU has had its ups and downs. But the drop in students is not really good news. It means that the students have picked up on the problems. If GMU has its name attached to this place, I do think that they need to get more proactive in how the place is run. It would be a shame if it is allowed to degenerate the way so many Gulf private universities have.

VS

globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

The former Foundation director was the most dogmatic inflexible micromanaging teacher-trainer I've seen. Weekly two-hour endless meetings on how not to teach and how to teach. No bathroom breaks allowed for students even in 3-hour classes (2 1/2 clock hours). Show a video more than 2 minutes or take students to the lab with an independent project once a fortnight and you are a BAD and LAZY TEACHER. She loved to tell people what to do, even men to tuck in their shirts. (There was no shirt-and-tie dress code...even tried to tell a PhD math professor how to teach the dear little angels. Nuff said, right?)

eha · Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 355 Location: ME

'The former Foundation director was the most dogmatic inflexible micromanaging teacher-trainer I've seen.'

There were a few around in the early 90s who'd give her a run for her money! How about the one who hid in the bushes to catch teachers who might have dismissed their classes five minutes early? Or the one who wrote negative assessments of experienced teachers on the basis of a business background -- in fast food! When I first came onto the tefling scene, I just couldn't believe what was going on. But the worst thing was, the teachers PUT UP WITH IT.

How do these people get away with it?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I think much of it is that both teachers and management are transients. As long as the pay is what they want and shows up regularly as stated in the contract... fine...

No position is where we are going to spend our career or the rest of our life. Thus we have no vested interests.

VS

eha · Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 355 Location: ME

'No position is where we are going to spend our career or the rest of our life. Thus we have no vested interests'

One might not be going to spend the rest of one's life in a situation, but surely one has a vested interest in survival? I've witnessed injustices and abuse that --- well, that should never happen in an 'educational' environment. Anyone who even tried to speak up would be quickly marginalised, by tactics that are nowadays--- thankfully-- recognised as harassment. Worst thing was, the silence of the lambs. Where were the colleagues?