Job Discussion Forums

[tojam]

Hi ,

I got an offer from a school in Dubai. I have a daugther and wife. Is it nagotiable or fixed? I would like to know your experience before I reply it . Please advise.

Summary
$42000 year (tax free)
$3000 allowance (once)
Two bed room apartment with utility
50% school tution for children, but max 15000 AED (per child)
Annual airline tickets for a family
50% support for Medical Insurance

It is a teaching job in a college.

[antonia v]

It would help a lot to know who the offer is from. I'd say in general offers are not negotiable to any great degree, but you can always try. The salary seems pretty good, the $3,000 (furniture?) allowance is OK. Your biggest concern should be your daughter's tuition. Tuition is a killer, and AED15,000 won't go very far at the American, British or Canadian school. I can't give you advice about cheaper schools in Dubai, though there certainly are some, especially if your daughter speaks Arabic or Hindi.

[adorabilly]

I would second what antonia said.

The salary is decent, and if they provide the 2 bedroom flat then that is a good offer (unless your are living on one side of the city and have to teach on the other which is not unheard of). If they offer a Housing allowance to find a 2 bedroom flat, then it is not a good deal.

The educational allowance is a bit lacking IMHO because you can easily pay up to 30.000 durham a year tuition for your child (depending on their grade level and which school you choose in dubai). So you would be paying out of pocket for her educational allowances

and the 50% coverage medical insurance seems a bit dodgy to me. Most employers provide you with pretty good medical coverage with a copay but the rest is covered, so depending on your medical needs it could be very decent medical coverage, or it could be like the educaitonal allowances and not quite meet your needs.

[mishmumkin]

tojam,

Most offers are fixed unless, and though I don't know your qualifications the annual salary is a very good offer for a teacher in the UAE with either Masters or a k-12 qualification.

The only thing I wonder about is the school tuition: 50% of fees are paid up to 15000? 15000, depending on the age of your child, is, at the very least, 50% of your school fees. I would expect to pay at least another 15000-25,000 (and I'm being conservating here) on top of that stipend.

People w/ kids at the Higher Colleges can jump in here, but I thought teachers there got around 40,000 per child, no? Many teachers at HCT would be brining in a lower annual salary, too, so perhaps it's six of one/half dozen of the other.

[veiledsentiments]

Another question is what are your credentials and experience? If you have an MA and a few years of experience, the salary is good. If you are a PhD with years of experience, it is quite low.

The benefit package is also not stellar. HCT/ZU give $8000 for furniture allowance and much more for both education and medical.

Lots of question marks here...

VS

[veralynn]

My daughter is 12 and her school fees are about 40,000 - 45,000 dhs per year! (Sorry, can't remember exact figure but I think it's about 14,000dhs per term.)
And as adorabilly says the medical allowance is weird. Do you pay 50% of the cost of the insurance or 50% of the cost of any treatment?

[Ed Dueim]

Depending on quals etc...HCT offer better. 60K dolls per annum...up to 80k dirs edu allowance for 2 kids; accom; FULL medical....tickets. Double digit inflation in UAE will kill you....15k school fees might pay for one term in a Dubai international school....investigate v carefull b4 taking this offer...check local media (Gulf News) for recent coverage of spiralling living costs in UAE....

[mishmumkin]

[housecat]

I'm not there and have never been there, so maybe take this with a huge grain of salt, but I have a friend there making a grand a month more than that with full health care coverage. She has no kids.

[NadiaK]

Faculty at/towards the top of the scale at HCT are indeed getting around USD 60,000/year at HCT. Even with the rumoured increases in starting salary, you wouldn't be coming in at that, though.

(Edited for punctuation.)