Job Discussion Forums

lconrod · Joined: 04 May 2010 Posts: 9

Anybody have any experiences they can share regarding teaching at universities in Changzhou and the city itself?

I have a job offer for a school that sounds good (20 hours/wk, 5500RMB, accomodations included) but I just wanted to see if anybody had anything else to share.
*edit* Although, there is a 'breach fee' in the contract that we're concerned about, seeing as we've heard very little of the school, and we're new teachers.

Sorry if this is a repost, I couldn't find any relevant threads that were recent.

Thanks!

mnguy29 · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 155 Location: USA

I taught and lived in Changzhou for almost two years. I can say that it is a nice city that is growing with big shopping area and restaurants, bars coming in all the time. I did not teach at any Uni's here but I know about most of them. I taught at private schools. One thing I can tell you is that most of the Uni's are a good 45 minutes by bus from the city center. There is not much out there for things to do, restaurants, etc. There were a couple Uni's that were fairly near downtown, Hohei and CIT, Changzhou Institute Technology. Can I ask the name of the Uni? Also, 5500 sounds quite good for Changzhou. How many classes teaching a week? Make sure the apartment has western style toilets.
There is one nice park near downtown called Homei Park and also Dinosaur Park. Hope this helps.

lconrod · Joined: 04 May 2010 Posts: 9

It's the Changzhou Institute of Mechatronic Technology, but from what I understand there's two locations, one in the older part of town and one in the newer part. Hopefully we're not as far away from local restaurants and shopping centres as you have suggested. However, the housing is provided and it is on campus, which should make things a lot easier in terms of getting to class.

We unfortunately have been unable to locate the school itself on google maps, which is frustrating. I don't think I'm using the right search terms.
And the contract is for 20 hours/wk.

mnguy29 · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 155 Location: USA

Yes, I know it. I looked at it also. It is 45 minutes by bus from downtown just like I said. Also, the two campuses are far from each other and there would have been alot of time spent traveling between the two.

canada83 · Joined: 27 Jun 2010 Posts: 5

I also used to teach at a Changzhou university and that sounds like a pretty good deal. From my experience it's definitely worth it to be near the city center or in the New North District. These two places have the most convenient transportation in terms of buses and taxis. I found the people in Changzhou to be quite friendly and open to talking and hanging out with foreigners