Job Discussion Forums

[Sleepwalker]

True - I've just had an email from a friend who has seen all the Omani staff around him receive double salary but not one expat.

Things are changing certainly. This is the first time it has happened.

[veiledsentiments]

Personally I was surprised that I (and all expats) received one 20 years ago... and that others have been paid since, so expectations were high this time. (I just heard from someone there who is anticipating it... hope they haven't spent it. )

That said... this is a gift, not a right. This is not a contractual obligation. In the past, the expats have shared it. But it is up to the Sultan and his budget if and who gets paid.

VS

[ardiles81]

[veiledsentiments]

[Opti]

VS is a bit behind the times, it seems, on more than just the of lack of 40th Anniversary bonuses for expats (which was felt particularly in the public school system and the government medical system, where many expat teachers, nurses and doctors have toiled so long and hard to build all the departments and educate Omanis for 40 years!).

The Language Centre Foundation Program and the rest of the University are in a period of reorganization and change. About two years ago, the Oman Accreditation Council published official guidelines for the accreditation of General Foundation Programs. The SQU FP program was reviewed and found weak in several areas. Since then, the director of the LC has been replaced, other administrators and their duties have changed, and some new committees have been appointed to study possible changes to the FP. The SQU FP now includes Math and IT courses, similar to the UAE's UGRU Foundation Program, for the higher levels. The Math and IT courses are run by the College of Science on a semester system, however, while the English courses are still on an 6-level, 8-week block program. This difference is causing huge timetabling problems. The LC Admin is now debating whether to make the English program a semester system, as the Accreditation Council report recommends. (The English program used to be semesters, but was changed to blocks a few years ago.) The English FP course content is also still under revision to meet the Council's higher standards. As of this Fall semester, students who don't want to take the English FP must submit an IELTS band score of at least 5.5. The LC has also just become a closed IELTS testing centre (in partnership with the Muscat British Council) and is planning to start operations this fall, though there is apparently still a shortage of certified examiners.

The entire University (as well as all other government colleges and universities) was subjected to a quality audit by the Oman Accreditation Council in 2009 (report released early 2010) and several recommendations were made for changes to bring SQU administration (as well as the Foundation Program) up to international standards. So, many new committees have been set up and changes are being planned all over campus. Particularly as it's the national university, SQU was taken to task over several deficiencies, and there seems to be a sincere effort to make improvements.

The result is that the SQU FP no longer has that same casual, laid-back atmosphere VS experienced long ago. Timetables for both Foundation and Credit teachers can include classes starting at 8:00 AM and classes ending at 6:00 PM. Expats in the FP still must teach 20 hrs/week, while Omanis teach just 18 hrs/wk. All Credit Program teachers teach 18 hrs/wk. The feeling is that the LC admin is scrambling to meet the various accreditation criteria by the next inspection and the pressure is intensifying. This semester saw the start of 2 fledgling support centers: a Writing Centre and a Tutorials Centre, both aimed at limited levels of the FP only. (The university is supposed to be constructing a university-wide Independent Learning Centre in the old library building, but little work has been done yet.) There is still no formal system of required "committee" or support work for teachers. There is a proposal for at least a slight decrease or parity with Omani teachers in teaching hours, but no decision yet from Admin. So, most social-type committee work is done by volunteers, and the more serious conference, research, or curriculum-related committee work is still done by teams of Admin-selected teachers who are given considerable teaching release time, esp. in the second semester. Individual teachers can also apply for release time for program-specific projects, but it may not be granted. Credit Courses are also being reviewed and revised to increase their relevancy and the level of difficulty of their content. Course books for Credit classes are in-house, and so increasingly are many of the FP course books.

There is a plan to provide each teacher with their own desktop computer to use in their office, or maybe a laptop, as now many teachers still have to share desktop computers in their offices. (A teacher could share an office with up to 3 other teachers. Only Program Coordinators and above get private offices.)

If a teacher is used to being issued their own laptop and is a big fan of high tech in the classroom, with versatile, functioning projectors, SMART Boards and all the students issued laptops, then they might feel a little frustrated at the much lower level of technology at SQU. Many courses use Moodle, however, for course readings, discussion forums, and assignments and quizzes, so an individual teacher could exploit that further with their own Moodle page, and so forth. In the LC, there are computer labs for LC course and individual student use, but lab time is very popular, so finding free time to book a lab for class can be a challenge and sometimes not all the equipment is functional.

Housing assignments for LC teachers remain as they have tended to be over the past few years: 2-bedroom flats for singles - usually 2nd floor (N. American = 3rd floor), or 3-bedroom flats for families of any size, all off campus. I don't know of any new LC teachers this year being housed on campus. No villas or townhouses are available, unless a teacher wants to take the small housing allowance and find their own place, and pay the large deposit, buy appliances, furniture, etc. themselves.

Subsidies for children's education remain low, while the costs of private schools increase annually.

If an expat teacher would rather cash in their contractual annual airfare home, they are given only 75% of the absolutely cheapest internet base fare offered to their home destination, which actually works out to be about 65% of the cost of the real ticket they would have bought (i.e, one with a reasonable schedule and itinerary, not including taxes and fees). This amount is calculated for the teacher by the ticket procurement office and cannot be disputed. If a teacher wants the ticket home, they must also follow certain procedures through the ticket procurement office.

Government medical care at SQU: The younger and healthier you are, the better. For screening checkups, it is either very good for some conditions like hypertension and breast cancer. Or, it is very difficult for others, like colon cancer. For pregnancy and delivery, and treatment of specific problems, including orthopaedic injuries, cancer, and heart surgery, medical care is very good, but some very specialized surgeries, like most transplant surgeries, either cannot be performed, or may require a long waiting period, or the quality of the transplant tissue is not reliable. Appointments at the FAMCO clinic for minor illnesses or routine care have been streamlined, but going for a specialist appointment at SQU hospital can involve booking it weeks or months in advance and on the appointment day, spending hours on preliminary testing and waiting, so one must be patient and may have to miss a class. There is a small, basic dental clinic at FAMCO, but for more than cleaning, one must go to a private dentist. There are a few branches of mostly Arab or Indian international hospitals in Muscat, and the other smaller private ones vary in quality, but the best are usually very expensive and SQU offers no private or international health care coverage.

The usual monthly starting pay for an off-campus expat teacher with a Master�s in ESL or Applied Linguistics, etc., and several years post-degree university teaching experience is around 1400 OMR (including allowance and subsidies). There is a small base salary increment raise annually on one�s hire date.

The best for last: SQU students are by and large friendly, unspoilt and delightful to teach. Most are bright, receptive and motivated to study, if unskilled at it, and will participate and take their work seriously if the teacher does too. Some are perhaps not really ready for university study, but as there is not yet a national high-school leavers� exam to use for entrance screening, like the CEPA in the UAE, all students who do well enough according to their high school standards are admitted. Level 1 in the Foundation Program was brought back this fall, after having been combined unsuccessfully with Level 2, just to deal with these really weak students. It has been effective so far.

[veiledsentiments]

Thanks you for all that info Opti. I have heard much of it from my friends over the years who are still there, but you will note that obviously I don't cover specifics, but merely generalities. It is rare that we have someone come on to give us such a great summary. And, I don't think your post negated anything I said. I can still recommend SQU with a clear conscience.

All is relative in this field, and I'd still say that even with all the changes, it is still the best gig in Oman... if not the Gulf. (assuming that money isn't your only goal) What with all the snake pits that Gulf university education foundation programs have become... The growth of the program from my days there is certainly not going to be a positive... sadly. The big shake up in departmental management resulted in a flurry of emails and lots of unhappiness. But, things settled down and moved on.

As to the bonus, I had just heard about it from a friend in Oman just a day or two before I posted who was under the impression that it would be coming. Wishful thinking I guess. So, the uninformed one was a current teacher in Oman.

VS

[Opti]

Hi VS - just a few days ago, a colleague whispered that someone had told him we expats might get some kind of token bonus to ease our hurt feelings... Sounds very desperate and unlikely to me!

[veiledsentiments]

Those that started the rumor are probably those who decided that expats shouldn't be paid. Is this the first time that the bonus has only been paid to Omanis? Do you know the bonus history off the top of your head?

I guess in a way it makes sense. In prehistoric times when I received the bonus for the 20th anniversary (of one month's pay), there were few Omanis working... and the expat numbers were pretty small too when you think about it. Now the population of both has risen dramatically.

As much as we might not agree with how the budget there is spent (as we also complain about in our home countries), Oman is not a rich country like Kuwait or the UAE. ma'alish...

VS