Job Discussion Forums

[funkystuff]

A friend of mine recently interviewed for a job at the ELC at TzuChi University in Hualien. This is what she was offered:

1. A salary of just over $NT53,000 for a 40-hour week. I should clarify that the prospective employee was contracted to teach a minimum of 14 hours, the rest being made up with both additional overtime teaching hours paid at $NT575 per hour plus office hours. I should further clarify that it was the personnel officer who inisisted on the 40-hour week; the ELC head however was a little more realistic, telling the interviewee that she wouldn't monitor the hours she spent in the office. This is wise indeed, for if a teacher was working a 40-hour week, with no o/t hours, this translates into around $53,000/40 = 3.79 per hour. Of course the teacher could boost his/her hours by doing o/t, but the problem is that the English Language Centre(ELC) is small - the school itself has only 3,000 students - and those hours cannot be guaranteed. In fact, my friend was told that even 14 hours couldn't be guaranteed.

2. A yearly bonus paid at Chinese NY of 1.5 times your monthly salary, ie, around NT$80,000.

3. Paid holidays: Around 2 weeks at Chinese NY and about a month during the summer.

4. Aside from the financial situation, it is compulsory for all TzuChi teachers to wear a school uniform: Navy blue jacket, white shirt, tie, navy blue pants, and shoes.(This, incidentally, can be purchased from the school itself at a discount: The teacher pays 20% while Tzu Chi pay 80%. BTW, the students are also encouraged to wear the uniform, but the dress code isn't strictly enforced.)

5. Subsidized vegetarian food is offered in the school canteen: Breakfast: 15NT; lunch: 25NT, and dinner 25NT.

6. The first question my friend was asked in the interview was: "Are you married?" Perhaps this is important too?

I want to stress that the job my friend was offered was in the ELC and NOT in the Department of Applied English, where teachers are expected to hold a Ph.d. Salaries are higher - around 70,000NT - but there is the additional pressure of research and publishing papers yearly in prestigious journals. I should also add that the bonus is higher and the vacations longer, but the extra vacation time is for research and not fun.

Conclusion: After hearing what was being offered, my friend gave up the idea of working at Tzu Chi. She'll be leaving Taiwan after Chinese NY.

[JZer]

For that salary I hope that are not expected to get anyone with more than a B.A.

[funkystuff]

And I don't think the salaries would fluctuate much right across the island of Taiwan because they are set by the MOE, right?

Looks like Taiwan will have to make do with Taiwanese MAs and Ph.ds to populate their English Language Centers and Depts of Applied English in the future . . .

[surrealia]

I had a friend who taught at Tzu Chi a few years ago. She wasn't too happy with the uniform and the immaturity of the students.

Another university in the Hualien area, National Dong Hua University, has much better students and a beautiful campus. However, they offer most instructors a "special" contract, which pays $10,000 less than instructor positions at other universities. The department even refers to them as "contract teachers" instead of English teachers. Last year, Dong Hua University put a job ad on their own website recruiting "contract teachers". I wonder if they got any resumes from law professors specializing in contract law...

[funkystuff]

My friend thought Hualien was a great place to visit, but living and working there would be a lonely experience. I guess that Taiwanese students might feel the same way, preferring the neon lights of Taipei to the starry nights of Hualien.

Didn't I read somewhere that Donghua University had merged with another university, leaving Hualien with only two universities? Maybe Hualien is a microcosm of what is going on in Taiwan overall: Falling birthrates = fewer students = merges and cost-cutting . . . and I might add: laughable salaries for qualified teachers.

[englishmaster]

I don't remember the uni I taught at in Taiwan as being anything like what you describe. There certainly wasn't a uniform--far from it! We were, however, under pressure to publish something every year (oh, God!). In the end, my dept. (Applied Foreign Languages) was downsizing, so they did not renew my contract. I had a pretty good three years in Taiwan, all told. From what I hear about Taiwanese unis, I wouldn't want to go for another job in one, though.

Now I'm in Malaysia, where it's even more humid--and they expect me to publish, too!

What I really dream of is an sophisticated institute where I can teach intelligent adults and not be under a sword of Damocles about publishing.

Anyone know of such a place?

[forest1979]

Funky - I think I grasp your friend's situation. She is being offered a staff not a faculty contract. These are becoming increasingly popular as a way to have teaching staff, work them more, yet pay less. Designed for locals they are being used for non-locals too.

[forest1979]

Funky - Your friend, offered a job in an ELC? Well, ELCs are not departments. This means in the overall scheme of unis they are as valued as the print shop.

[funkystuff]

[funkystuff]

[forest1979]

It would be easy to say that the ELC long hours contracts are a sign of the present economic times but I know that these types of contracts have been around for at least 5 years. Just seems that now they are being pushed onto foreign staff rather than just locals. However, for a junior local the salary is good (in comparison to the average national wage). But, for an overseas graduate with debts to pay and ambitions to move onwards and upwards the ELC contract wont do. Besides what type of teaching is it? Remedial English probably to classes of 60 students! The only foreigners who will basically take up these long hour contracts are on the ones married to locals who really have no choice to work under such conditions. Those who are geographically mobile though, like your friend, will obviously run a mile.

[funkystuff]

[forest1979]

GEPT = General English Proficiency Test. The reality could mean almost anything, which is why you couldn't find any info on it online. I know one main Taipei uni that seriously thought of bringing in such a scheme, a certification programme that would be recognised both in Taiwan and overseas, and their dummy run found the scores were so low that an equivalent grade on something like the IELTS was laughably low, and so worthless. They thus scrapped the grand plan.

As for small classes, this is many ways is a concern because if the classes are too small they will be cancelled. Hence no guarantee of even 14 hours of teaching. And what teaching that is done is probably to unmotivated students or those desperately frustrated at being on a course with no end goal, i.e. no chance of passing a GEPT.

[funkystuff]

There is an entry at wikipedia about the GEPT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEPT

Apparently it was developed by the LTTC in Taipei. There's a link to them here:

http://www.lttc.ntu.edu.tw/E_LTTC/aboutthelttc.htm

More details about the GEPT can be found here:

http://www.lttc.ntu.edu.tw/E_LTTC/gept_eng_main.htm

It seems to be a test designed purely for Taiwan. Why don't they use TOEFL or IELTS to guage proficiency levels?

[forest1979]

They don't use TOEFL or IELTS as the Taiwanese scores are so low (on average). This is a means of navigating around the reality of appalling English standards, and so presenting some form of certification to enrolled students which can be used in the local workplace. And make money from it.