Job Discussion Forums

[creative79]

I have recently completed my PhD in history from the UK, and I have been offered the post of assistant professor at a private university in the KSA. However, I have another offer for a ten months fixed-term post of "teaching fellow" at one of the top 5 universities in the UK. Please advise me which one I should go for. I am really confused!

Thanks

[Sadebugo]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[Mia Xanthi]

IMHO, it would be rather foolish to turn down the job in the UK for a job in KSA. Even though the KSA "university" position may seem more attractive due to the potential for longer-term employment, you will find the environment very unprofessional and very disrespectful.

No matter what you are teaching, in the end it will not turn out to be university level. You will be expected to dumb-down your courses, you will have no academic freedom whatsoever, the teaching load will be higher, there will be no library resources to do any kind of research, and if all this isn't enough...you will be pressured in one way or another to give out passing grades to students who do not deserve to pass.

In addition to all that, there is no job security whatsoever. You can be fired at the drop of a hat if the students decide they do not like you or your teaching style. "Universities" is KSA are famous for random firings of perfectly qualified professors, usually because they happen to have academic standards.

If you have not been overseas before, KSA is a really bad place to start an international teaching career. I myself found it an acceptable place to live, but there is more than a 50/50 chance that you will hate it and wish you had never come.

If you want to get another job after this first position, you have to be aware that many in the academic community are aware that teaching in KSA can be (not always) a kind of academic prostitution. If you want to start out overseas, you would do much better to start in a place that has a reputation for academic honesty, such as Singapore or Hong Kong.

My strong advice would be to take the 10-month job in the UK and keep looking for something better during the next academic year. For someone in your position, KSA could be a career-killer. Consider that and the fact that many with lesser qualifications find the circumstances of lving and teaching in Saudi Arabia downright soul-destroying. You've worked to hard to take a chance of throwing it all away on a possibility in KSA.

[Cleopatra]

Unless you need a lot of money quickly, go for the job in the UK. As others have said, if you change your mind or are forced to look for another job, the Saudi option will always be there, but it's not so easy to find jobs in academia in the UK.

Besides, as has been said, for a newly minted PhD, working in KSA would be close to career suicide. It might be fine to wind down at the end of your career, but would not be a good idea at the start of it. The vast majority of academic instituions in the Gulf are not taken seriously outside of the Middle East - or even inside of it in some cases.

[creative79]

Thank you for the replies. I appreciate the concern that all of you have shown. I agree with all of you and I am feeling inclined to go for the UK job.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Phew!!! That was close, guys! Thanks for banding together so well! Mia, you were great! And, it was all done in record time!

Now we can all stop worrying about HIM taking our cushy jobs! ... ...

NCTBA

[johnslat]

Dear NCTBA,

Yeah - like you're really worried about losing a "cushy job" in, of all places, the Kingdom of Humanity.

Regards,
John

[The Lathe of Heaven]