Job Discussion Forums

[Amenti]

Yes, sadly we have been purge of about 20% of our staff for various reasons including not being popular with the students and having a negative attitude!

[johnslat]

Dear Amenti.

Not being popular with the students - they must have missed that class at university.
Having a negative attitude - Gee, I wonder how they could have developed that? It sounds like such a great place to work.

And the purges will continue until morale improves, no doubt.

Regards,
John

[fishjock]

Don't worry purgees - whether they were pushed or jumped, I think most people who have left Sweet Home Al-Yamamah have gone on to find something better within the Kingdom. With TEXTBOOKS and EXAMS too!

[scot47]

Those not initiated into the mysteries of Yamamah may like to know that the "Pedagogic Philosphy" of Yamamastan is that students should not be subjected to books, tests or exams. Of course this has nothing todo with the fact that daddy is paying a heap of riyasl to have his son or daughter "educated" at this institution.

Anyone who has ever taught students in this part of the world can tell you that exams are the SOLE motivation for our charges here !

[veiledsentiments]

[fishjock]

'Where the Skies are so Blue'
(and the Silent Way's True)

Would disagree that exams are the sole motivation. Before they even get to strut their academic prowess on the end of term 'tests' they have to negotiate their way around attendance requirements - badgering teachers with "Ahhh, Deacher, mark me bresent" after strolling in to class 3 hours late after a hard night on the play station.

[Layla Nightflier]

The purging that has gone on over the past months at Al Yamamah, as well as how the teacher's contracts were unapologetically broken, goes beyond simply being unethical. THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW. When people outside the university heard what was going on, they were aghast and said, "They can't do that!" But the truth of the matter is, the admin and management here have NO scruples whatsoever and will try to get away with EVERYTHING from forcing teachers to work overtime for no compensation, refusing to pay the vacation and holiday pay promised in the contracts, refusing medical reimbursements...the list goes on and on. Never in my life have I been exposed to a management team who had the audicty to even think of treating their employees so disrespectfully and illegally.

For anyone considering a job at Al Yamamah, a word of warning: you'd have far more job security and satisfaction flipping burgers at McDonald's.

[Amenti]

It is very sad that YU has come to this! They also have extended summer working hours because they have let so many people take unpaid leave in the summer and thus increasing the load for those who are staying. Not only that, but they are refusing to pay for the Eid holiday because it falls during the 45 days summer holiday vacation which is clearly in violation of contracts and Saudi Labor Law!

[AYMAT38]

Al-Y has a tendency to hire a certain type from overseas - often new to the Middle East - often converts - often ex-Peace corp ex-hippie types (something SIT has been famous for over the years ).

Excuse me, just what do you mean by the above-SIT and Peace Corps comment? I'm both a former PCV and a double SIT degree holder (B.A., M.A.). While I do not agree with some of the socio-political views of many of my classmates, to paint both SIT and Peace Corps as just a bunch of hippies is grossly unfair. I have also been in Saudi for many years, and that is one of the major reasons why I did not opt for the version of the MAT program described in this thread. Many institutions in Saudi try to mate up with a reputable foreign organisation/institution to make themselves appear more prestigious, but it is just a facade. It sounds like a very bad situation, and I am not surprised. Best thing to do is for those affected to write to SIT and complain.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Tree-huggers UNITE!!!

NCTBA

[veiledsentiments]

[buildbyflying]

If anyone's interested:
(particularly teachers who might have been let go)
12 of the 14 new Summer MAT's are going to AYU.

To the men: Enjoy the rats in the first floor apts. They can chew right through the plastic drain covers.

[Layla Nightflier]

How sad about the 12 SIT people coming. Probably within the first semester half will be gone--either from being fired or from going crazy and leaving, regardless of how much money is to be lost.

It's ironic that SIT and INTERLINK both pride themselves on this very humanistic approach to learning, when in fact the program here could not possibly be less humanistic. SIT teachers should be prepared to teach 2-hour long classes without the aid of a textbook--or any books, for that matter; a working computer (if you're on the women's side); paper or a regularly working copy machine to make handouts; support from management; or, to be honest, anything resembling an actual curriculum or benchmarks for grading. Until the people at the top of the food chain in this organization decide to stop treating the students as dollar signs and the teachers as machines, enrollment will continue to decline and tension will continue to rise.

Did I forget to mention that at the Women's College the entire section of the college devoted to SILC--where the teachers' offices and classrooms are--does not have working lights or air conditioning in the classrooms? Good thing there are no books or handouts for students to read because there's not light to read anyway.

[buildbyflying]

yeah, sounds about right.
Apparently four years is not enough time to create a standard curriculum. Wait, five years.

I was noticing the same thing about enrollments myself. By the second term most teachers were down to one class and some classes had as few as three students.

[Mia Xanthi]