Job Discussion Forums

[pooroldedgar]

Can anyone speak to the working conditions there? The managerial temperament? Salary? Students?

[lcanupp1964]

The place is the about the same as the other top five gov't universities in the kingdom. The biggest advantage is the fact that KAU does not make the teachers clock-in/clock-out (scan/thumb-in/look at the time you signed-in to your computer). At KSU, the teachers have to scan-in and out every day and must stay on campus at lot longer than at KAU. ELI (prep-year) instructors at KAU teach 18 hours a week and for the most part, management leaves the teachers alone. Most can go home as soon as they are finished teaching for the day (office hours are rarely enforced). This advantage is really based on management not knowing how (or too lazy) to best manage effectively, but this fact tends not to negatively impact the teachers much (although the ELI always seem to run out of paper for the copy machines and printer toner can take weeks to replace).

Oh, mismanagement at the ELI does benefit instructors in getting overtime (paid at 150sr an hour). Many of the “better” instructors would be able to pick-up a double schedule for at least the first two terms of every year due to a storage of teachers at the ELI – Native speakers of English are especially sought after and hired quickly. Some teachers can make an extra 30,000sr - 40,000sr a year in OT. The ELI does not force teachers to work OT, but what else is there to do?

The biggest disadvantage is that KAU pays 17,000sr (21,000sr for doctors) to instructors as a yearly housing allowance (and 7,500sr as a one-time allowance when first hired), but gives zero educational allowance for the children of instructors. Living in Jeddah is way better than most places in KSA.

Native English speaking teachers with a B.A. and M.A. in a related area with a TESOL, TEFL, or CELTA and have around five years of teaching experience (some of that experience should be in the Middle East) should get around 16,000sr – 18,000sr per month.

BTW, there is more timely info about KAU on this site. Do some more digging.

[veiledsentiments]

A simple search here using KAU/search all terms/saudi arabia got me 149 threads and 2 of the 3 pages date from 2009 to 2014. And you could probably get more if you put in the full name.

Be sure to use the "search" next to your log in... to search the board not the whole site.

VS