Job Discussion Forums

[ineshp]

Bell are currently advertising these positions so let me tell you a story.

Examinations and Training Manager

The last peson, MK (a British non-Muslim), was a highly professional manager who had his own consultancy business, and who had been working in Hong Kong for the last fifteen years testing and implementing exams. However, once at KSU he constantly clashed with the KSU authorities who constantly interfered with his work and did not allow him to trial the internal exams properly.

He was also made to work with his female equivalent on the women's campus (a European Muslim convert). This woman had been sacked by Obeikan in a different position and then re-instated by KSU. She refused to meet sit in any meetings containing any men and so it was almost impossible for MK to liaise with her.

As such, MK did this job for one year and has not renewed his contract.

Academic Assessor

J. (a British non-Muslim) was a highly experienced teacher, DELTA-qualified, who had been working as a DOS in northern Poland in his last position. He again found the working conditions had to deal with at KSU university. For the teachers he was very easy to deal and communicate with and tried to do the best he could in very difficult working conditions. Again, he has decided not to renew his contract.

This gives some idea of what KSU is like. These two very experienced European managers have decided not to return after just one year working at the university.

[stonecold]

I had the distinct privelege of working for MK in the assessment unit at KSU until I was fired for calling the management, who clashed with him and many others, liars. MK never had a chance to implement any of the things KSU said they wanted because at every turn he was refused something. They did not supply him adequate material support, we had to beg them for a room to moderate exams created by his exam team in hongkong, in fact we ended up finding a room ourselves and inquiring of the "owners" if we could use it. after 2 weeks we were given the room. In all MK's time working for Bell, whteher in the far east or middle east, he never had as much difficulty carrying out his duties than he did at KSU. I hope the sucker, er..., candidate that replaces him is willing to bend over, er..., follow orders from morons,er..., managers who like to show their authority over and above their ability, er...inability to successfully implement an assessment program.

[sheikher]

How dare KSU management neglect to provide adequate materiel support!

With regard to the Kingdom-wide inconsistencies among assessment teams within the higher education sector, consider this idiosyncratic fraud Al Shabaka Training perpetrates upon students.

Page 18 of "Report Concerning University Canada West, Al Shabaka Training Establishment and the English Language Preparatory Program at King Faisal University, Al Hassa, 7 February 2009", a corruption report commissioned by Crown Prince Naif, Minister of Interior, states:

"PART 6: Academic transcripts and attendance records

"It is truly unfortunate that on the day marking my termination, November 30, [Al Shabaka 's Chairman] did not, quite frankly, possess sufficient common good sense to request my records of students� attendance and academic achievements. Since that date the file has been in safekeeping in my lawyer�s office. The ramifications of [the Chairman's] negligence are obvious. In a few weeks my twenty-one students will receive transcripts for their first Semester. Be very assured that I am willing to release my intellectual property to KFU�s registrar upon documented directive from His Excellency Dr Khalid Al-Angari, Minister of Higher Education. Inclusion of my assessments would be advantageous to my students and to KFU�s presumed reputation as a creditable institution. To regard my file otherwise represents in my opinion an utter waste of the first six weeks of my students� studies, and my daily lesson preparations and instruction."

Those files continue to accumulate dust in a lawyer's office. Al Shabaka's reckless disregard may itself be filed under Gross Negligence.

How were Semester 2 grades determined?

Here revealed is the narrative from a previous eslcafe post written by a beginner instructor somehow promoted to "Master Instructor" status:

"The program director, another teacher and I sat personally in the offices and handled this problem caused by some of our more problematic teachers. We told our teachers multiple times that their performance was not rated by how many students passed, unlike some private institutes. Despite this, we still had some who were intentionally going easy on the grading to the point where it was not academically appropriate. One teacher actually manipulated the final grades for his students (we swapped classes so we did not administer or grade the finals of our own students) and tried to bump his kids' marks up; that teacher in particular tried to feed the answers to his students in the week before the final exam. The other teachers in question were just soft; we had kids who couldn't even use possessive pronouns correctly getting 100% on their writing final. That is not appropriate and we re-graded some of the tests because of that. The top student whom I graded had an excellent paper with some spelling mistakes and grammatical errors you might find with American high school students didn't receive 100%, so a kid who can't write a proper paper should get a free ride because a teacher decided to "go easy" on him? This is one case where management stepped in and made an objective decision in a place where some eomployees (that's what a teacher is) couldn't and I don't regret it one bit."

I hope the sucker, yanni..., candidates who replace that assessment team is willing to bend over, yanni..., follow orders from morons, yanni..., managers who like to show, yanni..., et cetera.

Oh, did I just, yanni, troll?

[veiledsentiments]

It took me about 5 years to manage to remove 'yanni' from my spoken language after leaving the Middle East.

VS

[johnslat]

At first, I thought they were calling me Johnny - but removing that never gave me a problem.

Inshallah - well, that's NEVER going to disappear.

Regards,
John

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Strangely, VERY STRANGELY, I never heard "yanni' ONCE in all my time is saudi. I only discovered it in the U.A.E. and once heard, I thought that it was a "seeda"-"alatool" or "kabsa"-"makboush" kinda thing.

When mentioning this, my wife looked at me as if I were a raving lunatic!

NCTBA

(No insulting responses, please...)

[Grendal]

[veiledsentiments]

I picked it up in Egypt where most people tend to use it where many Americans do (or did) use "ya know." It was a constant with the students. Not as common in the Gulf, but certainly was there.

VS

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

I thought that it acted more like...uh...a verbal pause...uh...how do you...uh...say...uh...in English?

NCTBA

[veiledsentiments]

Yup... that too... pause fillers. One's culture and personal speech patterns deciding if or how pauses should be filled.

VS

[007]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]