Job Discussion Forums

droyjapan · Joined: 18 Jan 2011 Posts: 4

I applied for faculty positions (universities) in UAE and Kuwait. I have a PhD in Technical Communication (Technical and business writing and usability) from a premier US university (with 2 MA degrees from US and India) with 6 years of full-time faculty experience in US and Japan, 5 years as a teaching assistant in universities (teaching classes and curriculum design) across US, and over 35 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings, and other community service and professional engagements in IEEE, ACM to support.

Do you think I will get an interview?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Wait... let me dust off my crystal ball... Cool

Who knows...

You will if they need someone to fill a position that needs your background.

Since we are an ESL/EFL teachers board, we know little or nothing about what they do in the content courses. Reading your description, I actually have little or no idea what kind of position you are looking for because I don't know what IEEE or ACM are... or what "Technical Communication" is.

VS

droyjapan · Joined: 18 Jan 2011 Posts: 4

Sorry....I should have clarified. This would be in English departments in GUST and KUSTAR and based on their advertisements, they need a position with my specialization. What I lack is experience with Arabic students.

Basically, I teach English for writing science and engineering documents.

elmoro · Joined: 12 Feb 2010 Posts: 58 Location: The Emerald City

you have as good a chance as everyone else with you background. the iat/kustar family is pretty fair in regards to hiring.

the one thing i would caution you on is your use of the word "need". they don't need anyone. if the mood strikes, they will pass you up for someone less qualified. just keep that in mind seeing you are new to the gulf.

droyjapan · Joined: 18 Jan 2011 Posts: 4

Interesting ! So it depends quite a bit on their whims and fancies and might not be objective enough! Is this the culture everywhere in gulf?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

For some employers your PhD might be a minus, since it would move you up the pay scale and there are quite a few writing teachers with MAs.

I recommend that you look into the American University in Sharjah.

VS

droyjapan · Joined: 18 Jan 2011 Posts: 4

Well ! I did apply for a faculty position in AUS and I only applied to places that asked for a PhD with other credentials.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Good Luck!! Come back and tell us if you get any interest from them.

VS

elmoro · Joined: 12 Feb 2010 Posts: 58 Location: The Emerald City

yes, it is like that everywhere in the gulf. best thing to do is apply to everything that is in your job range and wait to see if someone gets back to you.

nepotism is the law of the region, not merit. so, don't count on where you went to school, who you worked for, or what you've done in the past. no one cares about that in the region. i have an emirati friend who has a phd in physics from one of the top engineering universities in the world and he does research every summer in the states. he decided to change schools and was really shocked to get some of the responces that he got. things like, we don't encourage research, etc. he's emirati, so what more the rest of us!!!

elmoro

WantToKnow · Joined: 18 Dec 2010 Posts: 41

What are GUST and KUSTAR? Don't know what any of your initials mean.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Try the search or even Google...

VS

makeajoyfulnoyes · Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Abu Dhabi

KUSTAR=Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research
GUST=Gulf University of Science and Technology

Gulezar · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 483

A PhD would be a plus at KUSTAR. That's what they are looking for and Masters for the Prep Program. I haven't heard many favorable reviews of GUST, neither in the Prep Program nor the degree program, especially when compared to KUSTAR.