Job Discussion Forums

[EFLprofessional]

Avoid Al-Bayan University College in Muscat, Oman which is associated with Purdue University! Al-Bayan is also owned by the same people who own Mazoon College in Muscat. They are liars, cheats, masters of the �bait and switch��and the owner with the controlling interest, Dr. J., is the cheapest man that I�ve ever encountered�he makes �Scrooge� look like a kind and generous individual.

When I interviewed for the position of lecturer in English Literature, I was promised help in finding an apartment in Muscat, a furniture allowance as I had no furniture at all, and was promised that I would only �occasionally� be asked to teach outside my own discipline as I have two MA degrees; one in English Literature and one in ESL/EFL. I assumed that �outside my own discipline� meant that I might be asked to teach English Language courses, which I was willing to do. None of this turned out to be true! Unfortunately, I also never dreamed of asking about books because I assumed, because I was going to be hired to teach literature, that naturally, there would be books!

I had already signed the contract in September when I was handed my list of classes. I saw that I had a mixture of classes - literature and communication. I asked, "What's this?" I was told that not enough students had registered for literature classes but I HAD to teach a minimum of 15 hours per week, so some of my literature classes that I had been scheduled to teach had been canceled and were substituted with the communication class. My reply was, "But I'm not qualified to teach this class!" I was told, "Too bad, you're teaching it anyway." The �excuse� was that because the class could be considered for credit in English, then that justified me teaching it even though it was a �communication� course completely, and I had no training whatsoever in communication.

I then submitted my book list for the remaining literature classes and asked about ordering books for the other classes as well. I was told, "We do not have books here." I nearly fainted! I said, "No books????!!!! How am I supposed to teach any course without books??" The reply was, "Do the best you can." And that was all that was said.

At the time, I was in such a state of shock about there not being any books, that I didn't say anything. I just walked "dumbfoundedly" out of the office.

The college also has no "online" literary resource like EBSCO Online Library AND I could not use movie adaptations because of the possibility that there might be something "offensive" and "obscene" in them....like a "kissing" scene!! So, I was reduced to making copies of chapters from books (Which is ILLEGAL!) and to using my own personal library of DVDs adaptations of classical literature which I would pass around the class.

This is a "private" college and the owner with the "controlling interest" in it as it turns out, is an incredibly "cheap" man. The Dean has a "discretionary" budget of about $700.00 USD for the entire year....that's it! I and two other teachers even tried to get just ONE 3-drawer filing cabinet in order to keep our classes straight and to get rid of the piles of paper on our desks and we were told that we couldn't have one! Yet, the owner is a multi-millionaire and spends over $1,000,000.00 USD per year so that he can have the name of Purdue University in the USA associated with the name of the college! But we couldn't have a 3-DRAWER FILING CABINET???!!!!

The college is a JOKE and the students complain bitterly but nothing is done. So, my advice to you would be to avoid BOTH Al Bayan University College and Mazoon College in Muscat, Oman. What teachers are expected to do � teach without books or other resources � is intolerable. Any "institution" calling itself a "college" which does not supply books or, at least, an online resource like EBSCO, SHOULD NOT be in the business of educating ANYONE! The students are paying outrageously high tuition fees and are not getting the education that they deserve.

[Sleepwalker]

This sounds like a nightmare.

However, you begin to wonder what exactly the Ministry of Higher Education are paid to do - I would have hoped that the audits would have sorted this out but apparently each college has four years to sort themselves out.

Four more years to rip off the students from what you say.

Surely Purdue University should put pressure on this place, or do they just take the money?

[EFLprofessional]

It was ME who informed Purdue last October, when their representatives were on campus in an all faculty meeting, that the college did not use any books. Until that time, they were completely ignorant to the fact. Purdue's reply was that it isn't their place to say anything about it. However, later in the semester they did begin to put pressure on the college to start using books or some sort of "online resource" or they would "consider" withdrawing their affliation. The college literally "lanuched" themselves like a rocket into getting books and something like EBSCO, yet nothing has really happened yet. But let's face it....the affiliation is worth 1-million USD to Purdue, so they aren't going to push too hard!

What I described in my first posting isn't the half of it. Omani Labor Law states in Article 20 (http://www.manpower.gov.om/en/law_employment.asp#2) that it is the EMPLOYER who bears all cost of hiring an employee, including all medical cost. However, Al Bayan College makes YOU pay for your own medical exam, etc. which is contrary to the law. I pointed this out to them and the response that was given was, "Do you think that when Indians are recruited to work in Oman that the company pays for it?" I replied, "Then if they do make the employees pay for it, they are doing something just as illiegal as Bayan College is!"

Also, Bayan College is being required to get its QUALITY ASSURANCE accreditation this year. There is no real "Academic Affairs" office at the college because it is so small...even though there SHOULD be....so the owner made the TEACHERS do all the work, on top of teaching a minimum of 15 hours per week and acting as student advisory staff as there is no "Student Advisory Department" either. Again, he was too cheap to pry open his rusty, dusty purse and HIRE an outside firm to do what needed to be done! Instead, he put more work on the shoulders of already overworked, UNDERPAID teachers! Yet the teachers were expected to conduct "top-notch" lessons!

If you expect "supplies" forget it! You are better off going out and buying your own. And getting anything fixed is a complete nightmare. My office's printer, which is shared by 3 teachers, ran out of toner and it took two weeks to get a replacement cartridge. Also, the ANCIENT copier in the Foundation department broke down and it took 3 months to get it fixed! Instead of buying/leasing a new one to immediately replace it, the teachers in Foundation were made to go to other departments and use theirs.

Al Bayan and Mazoon Colleges, both owned by Dr. J., are I believe, two of the lowest paying colleges in Muscat. Dr. J made the comment once that "Why should I hire western native-speakers to teach the English language when I can go to India, hire teachers there and pay half as much for them to come to Oman and teach?" (I am a westerner and I assume that I was hired because I was teaching English Literature, and not English language (ESL/EFL).

So again, I WARN EVERYONE, avoid both Al Bayan College and Mazoon College in Muscat as if they had the plague! They are POORLY run, the owner is CHEAP....and they ARE a nightmare! Take if from someone who has had first-hand knowledge!

[veiledsentiments]

Sadly, what you are describing is pretty much typical of the small private colleges of the Gulf... not just Oman. About all that they should be used for by Western teachers is a foot in the door, a Gulf entry on the CV, and an income while they get an MA so that they can get up to the better employers.

VS

[EFLprofessional]

VS....I understand completely what you are say and could not agree with you more. I've been here in Oman for 3 years now.

However, I have a 2 MA degrees and one is in English Literature which is my first love. I had "hoped against hope" that things would be different....but they weren't. During my interview I NEGOTIATED my contract and even asked for things that I KNEW they would not agree to just so that I could get what I did want. I got everything I really wanted, but as it turned out, the person I interviewed with wasn't even authorized to negotiate for anything! They simply did so in order, as I found out later, to get me to agree to come work there. I was told this by another interviewer later on who said that the first one shouldn't have done that.

I went to work there simply because I wanted to teach literature.

[Sleepwalker]

"Why should I hire western native-speakers to teach the English language when I can go to India, hire teachers there and pay half as much for them to come to Oman and teach?"

Enough said - you're the token Westerner who is around to impress the parents. Start applying elsewhere.

[EFLprofessional]

I was not the only western teacher at Bayan College. Dr. J. said that about his other college, Mazoon. But I'm sure he would try it if he could get away with it Bayan but they have a little better "class" of students than colleges in general here in Oman do.

And, I'm not at Bayan anymore.....believe me, if they hadn't broken the contract and told me to leave, I would have broken it and told them to "stick it where the sun don't shine"!

[veiledsentiments]

This is a perfect example of what negotiation actually gets a person in the Gulf with these bottom level employers. With luck, negotiation MIGHT get you better money, but little other change in actual contract conditions. The catch is that first timers don't realize that they may be getting verbal promises from a person that they will never see or hear of again.

VS

[EFLprofessional]

VS.... Yes, one would think that, wouldn't one? However, the person who interviewed me was the Assistant Dean of the college. And that would lead one to believe he is authorized to do more than he was, in reality, able to do.

[Sleepwalker]

I sincerely hope your new place is better and be thankful you're out.

I would keep pressure on Purdue though.

[veiledsentiments]

[madrileno]

Unfortunately, all private colleges are like this in Muscat from what I hear from all my friends and acquaintances working there. Lower salaries than those offered outside the capitol, no accommodation or transportation provided, and shady private health insurance rather than the NHS are the most common characteristics.

What you've described with Mazoon/Bayan is probably one of the worst I've heard though. I know one girl who was hired there at the beginning of Spring semester. When she returned from summer vacation, she discovered that they had given her position to an Indian (in order to pay a lower salary and save money). Of course, they never informed her of this, and she was stuck in MCT without a job and had no choice but to fly back to North America on her own dime!

[veiledsentiments]

Didn't she have a contract?

VS

[madrileno]

[veiledsentiments]

Did she check with the Ministry? It would have been good if it was possible to lodge a complaint against the employer to be on their record for their next obviously illegal step.

One possibility for her might have been to check with the recruiters. They are always hiring, especially at the time she arrived.

While many of the private colleges are a bit shady, there are others that offer decent (but low) salaries and the usual benefits of housing and tickets. Their medical coverage can be limited.

VS