Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

How many hours do you have to work to meet "full-time" in your contract?
Are you required to teach more than nine hours to receive your base monthly salary? Do you receive overtime pay for the hours you teach beyond nine hours? Do you receive fund for office and supplies?

Are you aware that regulations from the Ministry of Education establishes a limit on the number of hours universities instructors can teach?

"Visiting professors can obtain full-time status when lecturing more than nine hours a week," Chang said, adding that the writer lectures 12 hours a week currently while doubling as an online tutor for high school students.

Internet tutor wrote college exam questions (bottom of article)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/11/13/200311130045.asp

[desultude]

Your point being?

[Real Reality]

Are foreigners aware of how much they are deceived and mistreated?
Are they aware how Koreans perceive them?
Do foreigners think they can get a fair and honest agreement in Korea?

The foreign professor -- colleague or hired hand?
Foreign professors do most of the heavy lifting in terms of course loads, devoting themselves almost exclusively to teaching. Nevertheless, they tend to be treated as hired hands, without academic standing, and lacking the possibility of career advancement or tenure. They must submit to yearly contracts (compensated at a rate only 60 percent of their Korean peers) while walled off from the permanent Korean faculty who benefit from travel, research funding, sabbaticals, etc. Moreover, when hundreds of Korean scholars enjoy such perks at American and other foreign universities, something is obviously amiss.

According to the Samsung Group's chairman, Lee Kun-hee, to succeed globally, Korea must forgo the thought that Korea and being Korean is superior, and foreign specialists must be treated with respect.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200206/14/200206142349223599900090109011.html

Rotten to the Core?

Transparency International's "Corruption Perceptions Index 2003" lists Korea 10 places lower than what it was last year, meaning the country ranked 50th.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200310/200310080034.html

Could these articles indicate the discrimination foreigners face in Korea?

For Housing Rentals, Foreigners Easy Victims

Foreign residents in Seoul are preferred over any Korean tenant by their landlords because they are paying several times as much as what Koreans are paying for their rent, realtors and industry sources say.
For a 25-pyong (one pyong equals 3.3 square meters) apartment in Seoul, foreign residents are paying as much as two million won ($1,600) in monthly rent while the same apartment may go for only 500,000 won for Koreans.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200308/kt2003082818233111970.htm

Foreign Students Here Pay More for Dormitory, Segregated From Koreans

Foreign students also argued that they were further segregated from their Korean students because their dormitory rates differ substantially.

"Single Korean students pay about 800,000 won ($660) per semester for full board in a new dormitory while we foreign students have to pay between 350,000 won to 450,000 per month for accommodation only," a graduate school student enrolled at Sahm-Yook University in Seoul, who asked not to be named, told The Korea Times.

He also said that he was promised many discount benefits and low cost housing by the school officials before coming to the Korean school, only to find out that he was to pay several times more than his fellow Korean schoolmates.

He also argued the school allowed only a certain number of foreign students from other countries beside the U.S. to be hired as part-time English teachers while there is no such quota for American students. "This is discrimination based on their nationality," he said.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200310/kt2003102919580211960.htm

Professors Cheat
A professor of engineering said it was common for there to be up to ten co-authors on a paper, most of whom have had nothing to do with it. Last year, Professor Han at "E" University who had failed to be promoted managed to do so after his name was appended to his student's paper.
http://www.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200204/200204251020.html

Ghostwriters investigated
Firms selling graduate projects face charges
A professor who was part of an examination committee that accepted several ghostwritten theses said, "The quality of the theses was poor, but I didn�t want to disqualify them. I never knew they were written by others."
The prosecution suspects that at least 30 illegal ghostwriting businesses are in operation.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200303/17/200303170205221879900090409041.html

"Professor Lee often beat and abused students. He hit students who didn't work for a venture company of Gwangju recommended by him in the face for 20 minutes." The official of Kwangju Institute of Science and Technology said, "Professor Lee accepted the above facts. He was discharged from a head of the department and a disciplinary measure has been in progress."
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=040000&biid=2002091152368

Discrimination
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212250002.html

[desultude]

This sounds like a very bad place for you to be. I'd be packing my bags post haste. I'm telling you, you should get out of here as fast as possible.

[kimcheeking]

Real Reality seems to post the same links and quotes whenever he gets a chance...

[Real Reality]

desultude,

Why not try responding to the information and facts provided in the post?

Do you care?

[Real Reality]

kimcheeking,

Not exactly. Some things need to be repeated.
Have I posted this article excerpt before?
Rotten to the Core?
Transparency International's "Corruption Perceptions Index 2003" lists Korea 10 places lower than what it was last year, meaning the country ranked 50th. According to a recent survey, as many as 90 percent of Korea's youth think they live in a country that's corrupt, and a considerable number of them say they're ready to join the club if the occasions calls for it later in life. Our society has become rotten to the core.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200310/200310080034.html

Here is a bonus excerpt for you.
Seoul Parks to Become More Foreigner-Friendly
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Sunday it would set up information centers next year in parks across the city in a bid to make the capital friendlier for foreigners.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200311/kt2003110919090511990.htm

We can all be happy now.

How foreigner-friendly are your places of employment?
How foreigner-friendly are hogwans?
How foreigner-friendly are Korean universities?

[Gord]

[Real Reality]

Gord,

Did you answer these questions before?

How many hours do you have to work to meet "full-time" in your contract?
Are you required to teach more than nine hours to receive your base monthly salary? Do you receive overtime pay for the hours you teach beyond nine hours? Do you receive funds for office and supplies?

Are you aware that regulations from the Ministry of Education establishes a limit on the number of hours universities instructors can teach?

How foreigner-friendly are your places of employment?
How foreigner-friendly are hogwans?
How foreigner-friendly are Korean universities?

[kimcheeking]

RR,

perhaps not too many people are concerned otherwise they would be responding to your mantra.

[weatherman]

Well all the English department foreign lectures at at my school have only 8 hours a week of Univeristy classes. We also have 12 hours a week of Foreign language center classes. Don't know if that helps....

[Real Reality]

weatherman,

Thank you.

kimcheeking,

"perhaps not too many people are concerned..." is the issue.
Will conditions improve if "not too many people are concerned"?

(There is another poster with the I.D. of RR.)

[Gord]

[Cthulhu]

Have to agree with Gord on this one. Even if we accept the fact that a number of Korean professors have less than honest PhD's, they still have to study for 4+ years over the average foreigner with an MA, to say nothing of those with just BA's, few as they are. I wouldn't expect someone with an MA to get the same treatment as someone with a PhD--would you? And Korean profs at my former university had to go to a lot of meetings, had long office hours and had to do more marking than I ever did. I might not respect all of their degrees (though one would expect a number of them worked hard for them) but I do respect the time and money it took them to get where they are. At the very least, one could go back home to get that PhD and return to Korea to prove the point in the original post.

Now, if a foreigner with a PhD teaching his major is being treated like dirt in comparison with the Korean profs then you have a point. But finding a foreigner in Korea with a PhD is like finding someone drinking coke in a Room Salon. Possible, but not bloody likely.

[Real Reality]

Cthulhu and Gord,

In part, I agree with you. However, do experience and credentials (i.e., recognized professional certificates) in teaching and English education contribute to the determination of the salary? Have you ever noticed that a foreigner with 10 years expereince in TEFL (or English education) is paid and provided similar benefits to someone with 1 year of teaching experience? Why does a foreigner with 15 years teaching experience get the same salary as someone with 2 years teaching experience? Does experience matter? What is the salary scale for your university or place of employment?