Job Discussion Forums

[ops]

I am thinking about finding a teaching position at a university in Japan but want to know what the "going rate" might be for salaries (in addition to what benefits one might expect) for university level instructors would be. I have eleven years of experience teaching ESL, seven of which have been overseas. I have a BS in education and a MS in TESOL. Any information would be appreciated!

second question--how much would a foreign instructor expect to pay for health insurance premiums in Japan?

Many thanks.

[Glenski]

1997 Kansai Area Teacher Salary Scales
courtesy Michael "Rube" Redfield
Osaka University of Economics
The following is the 1997 Kansai area college teacher salary scale, complied by the Kansai Private Universities Labor Union. The three highest paying schools are listed at the top of each table, the thirty school average in the middle, and the three lowest paying colleges at the bottom. The yearly salary includes all bonuses but does not include additional sources of revenue, such as research budgets and travel allowances.
[Ed's Note: these salary scales apply to Japanese (and assumedly non-Japanese) tenured faculty.]
Table 1. These figures are for 24 year old, single instructors (joshu).
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 6,554,438
# 2 Osaka Electo-Comuni. U. 5,615,700
# 3 Otemon Gakuin U. 5,578,020
23 School Average 5,021,548
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Osaka Tech/Setsunan U. 4,597,880
# 2 Osaka Women's Gakuen JC 4,480,226
# 1 Hagoromo Junior Col. 4,131,600

Table 2. These figures are for 30 year old Assistant Professors (koushi), married, with one child.
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 8,972,452
# 2 Kansai University 7,994,490
# 3 Kinki University 7,614,510
26 School Average 7,299,799
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Osaka Women's Gakuen JC 6,690,234
# 2 Osaka College of Music 6,669,400
# 1 Osaka Chiyoda JC 5,995,466

Table 3. These figures are for 35 year old Associate Professors (jokyouju), married with two children.
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 10,472,725
# 2 Kansai University 9,737,330
# 3 Momoyama Gakuin U. 9,611,875
26 School Average 8,653,140
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Hagaromo Junior Col. 8,110,200
# 2 Osaka College of Music 7,991,760
# 1 Osaka Chiyoda JC 7,330,242

Table 4. These figures are for 40 year old Associate Professors (jokyoju), married with two children.
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 11,120,783
# 2 Kinki University 11,034,225
# 3 Momoyama Gakuin U. 11,020,240
26 School Average 10,085,578
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Baika Women's College 9,313,290
# 2 Osaka Art U/Naniwa JC 9,123,725
# 1 Osaka Choyoda JC 8,468,184

Table 5. These figures are for 45 year old full Professors (kyouju), married with two children
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 13,039,337
# 2 Kinki University 12,426,304
# 3 Osaka Seikei Junior Col. 12,288,205
26 School Average 11,476,637
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Baika Women's College 10,594,453
# 2 Shukugawa Jr. College 9,917,455
# 1 Osaka Choyoda JC 9,743,543

Table 6. These figures are for 50 year old Professors (kyouju), married with two children.
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 13,829,743
# 2 Kinki University 13,663,151
# 3 Osaka U. of Economics 13,452,500
26 School Average 12,531,313
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Osaka Art U/Naniwa JC 11,420,215
# 2 Shukugawa Jr. College 11,102,695
# 1 Osaka Choyoda JC 10,627,802

Table 7. These figures are for 55 year old Professors (kyouju), married with one dependent child.
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Kobe Gakuin University 14,329,834
# 2 Osaka Dental College 14,305,510
# 3 Kinki University 14,188,492
26 School Average 13,228,170
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Osaka Women's Gakuen JC 12,267,544
# 2 Shukugawa Jr. College 12,096,940
# 1 Osaka Choyoda JC 11,114,801

Table 8. These are the figures for 60 year old Professors (kyouju), married with no dependent children.
Salary Scale / University name / Yearly salary in Japanese yen
TOP THREE
# 1 Osaka Dental College 15,436,390
# 2 Kobe Gakuin University 14,659,482
# 3 Kinki University 14,494,508
36 School Average 13,623,467
BOTTOM THREE
# 3 Osaka U of Law&Economics 12,569,800
# 2 Osaka Women's Gakuen JC 12,547,426
# 1 Osaka Choyoda JC 11,119,715
Rube Redfield is an educator at the Osaka University

[abufletcher]

Sad to say but the best you can probably hope for would be a 1-3 year non-renewable contact position. To be perfectly honest your credentials and eperience would probably get you a better, more stable job in the Arab Gulf than in Japan. The chances of landing one of the "golden ticket" tenure-like jobs in Japan are extremely small.

The university contract positions are not particularly lucrative in Japan but are generally confortable for a single person. Married with kids would be harder but still possible -- that depends a lot on the individual university and the individual.

As I said jobs in, for example, the UAE would seem like a better bet and with your experience and degrees you should be able to land a job at one of the better universities there. Check out the UAE forum.

Still, if you are absolutely desperate to come to Japan all you can do is start keeping an eye out for jobs and apply to as many as you can. Getting hired will be a bit of a crap-shoot and don't take any rejection as having anything whatsoever to do with your qualification for the job. The hiring process in Japan (particularly at the university level) can be bizarre to say the least.

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

P.S. Those salaries that Glenski quoted are nearly ten years old. Rube has talked about providing an updated version but these are only averages and not really based on concrete figures.

A lot has happened to university salaries in the last 5 years and its only going to get worse.