Job Discussion Forums

[desert_traveller]

A brand new HRDF-TVTC-Saudi Aramco outfit, running among others 3-year diploma programs in electrical and mechanical engineering, renewable and nuclear energy, and so on.

Website:

http://www.npa.edu.sa/en/

Article on the foreign operator's website:

https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/bismarck/bsc-starts-energy-training-program-in-saudi-arabia/article_62c397b4-5eb6-5181-82fc-05fdc4180cae.html

Does anyone know anybody who works there or have any information on the package they offer?

[sicklyman]

pm me your details if you want me to pass them on to someone there. I helped run some training for them so have some contacts.

[waltgomez]

According to some:

Not very stable. Proceed with caution.

Some 15 teachers have been fired by this outfit since October.

Recently, that top firer was also fired.

Apparently, there are also difficulties with obtaining proper visas for the teachers.

Some fired teachers are apparently suing.

I would not work for them.

Look for an older company. These are too new and not established. Visa problems, as well.

[voyagerksa]

[EFL Educator]

Seems to me to avoid teaching at this place at all costs.....I don't understand why American managers fire their staff constantly.....maybe they think they are still at home and that Saudi is a place where they can get away with it too!

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

Lengthy posting has been deleted.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=116962&sid=be587978780d51dd9a840a2d922d91d0

[waltgomez]

This is with Bismark State College in North Dacota. Newbies in Saudi. The American dean was the one who had apparently fired 15 American teachers. Then he got fired himself. It was Americans who were doing all those things, not Saudis.

Weekend work. Teachers were asked to have work meetings on weekends and assigned work to be done over weekend. No extra pay. The Management also came to work in shorts.

One teacher was told he was fired on a weekend and had to go and see the dean on that weekend to be told he was fired. Real sadistic stuff.

Incorrect visa instructions were given resulting in severe inconveniences for some people. Such as: detention/jailing/deportation. The Embassy did not issue visas to teachers who still had old business visas from other companies. The management said it was Ok to go in on the old visas. Detention/inability to leave the country and deportation were the result for two teachers. One was jailed for a week.

There was inappropriate behavior of management re: Saudi customs and traditions.

Apparently, the company is still having difficulties with getting proper visas.

In short, run fast!

[js424u]

I am American and I hate working in this country (USA). I taught in Japan and Thailand for many years and was never fired. I have gone through so many jobs in the States because they will fire you for no reason. Sometimes they just don't like you and they will fire you! You have to go on unemployment and find a new job and it happens again and again. I am in office jobs here. Half of my friends here haven't lasted more than 3 years in a job and most have done nothing really bad or firable to deserve that kind of treatment. The US is really behind the rest of the developed world in employee rights.

[caliph]

Getting fired in Saudi for no reason is very common. Read through this forum for anecdotal evidence. At least in America you don’t have visa problems, or threats of going to jail based on student accusations.

[AbeCross]

"The US is really behind the rest of the developed world in employee rights." Indeed, the USA lags far behind other advanced nations in this respect. In America, labor unions have been demonized and CEOs have been glorified for decades. The result —expendable employees—is hardly surprising.
Comparing this aspect of American culture with the TEFL profession, however, is fraught with difficulty. TEFL has not carved out its own niche in the academic world. Perhaps TEFL's uncertain status contributes to its problems, and those problems go far beyond teacher turnover. In KSA, and elsewhere, the TEFL industry is inexorably headed for its nadir.

[voyagerksa]

They are insane half of the time, and any other time, peculiarly unable to understand the responsibilities of running a school, and how to responsibly treat teachers as well as any one else.

[jaffa]

[sicklyman]

My funniest memory of this place was when I was part of a team carrying out a site inspection prior to their first students arriving. The new dean, fresh from leading at an international school in the area, was waxing lyrical about how wonderful it was all going to be.

Then he got carried away and, in a room full of much more experienced personnel, he blurted out, "I can't wait to start a choir. These guys can sing!"

There was an audible intake of breath around the room, thirty seconds of extremely uncomfortable silence and a few tumbleweeds before anyone spoke again.

Needless to say, he left before the choir was formed...

[hobartwells]

Apparently, the old American management was demoted and new people were brought in. NPA is not rehiring those who got fired by the spit-fire dragon American firing boss. They are not hiring anybody.

[NostrandQ]

Here’s the latest on what the Bismarck Tribune says about Bismarck State University’s affiliation with NPA.

https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/bismarck/bismarck-state-college-to-review-partnership-with-saudi-institute-amid/article_8cbd0668-89c3-561e-bbcb-2c8e56206f97.html