Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TECO]

Back in January I applied for a university position in Japan - rural Japan, to be more specific. Not even in Tokyo.

Today, I got an e-mail back from one of the search committee members, who stated the following:

[Ukon]

The Job Market for a P.H.D. in liberal arts is pretty bad(if your aiming for university jobs).....Gotta pay off those massive loans somehow!

[poohbear]

what's an ABD? It says 42PHDs/ABDs applied, so not all the applicants are PHD's, some are ABDs. i googled it and the acronym stands for "Association of British Drivers", which seems a bit odd to me that professional drivers want to teach at uni's in japan? ah japan, it does indeed seem like the land of mystery.

[TECO]

ABD = All but Dissertation (the student has completed all of their doctoral level coursework and is in the process of completing their dissertation).

If they're applying for a job at this university, it means that they're likely nearly finished their research and either getting ready for their exams or have passed their examinations and are waiting for the relevant authorities to sign off on thier degree and graduation.

Again, that's a shit load of doctorates!

[Rumple]

42 is not that competitive. I went to a regional university (12,000 students) and worked in the Equal Opportunity office, so I got to see all the hiring statistics, and we usually had about 250 Ph.D./ABD applicants for a single liberal arts position. And mind you, this was a public university that few people outside the state have ever heard of.

[some waygug-in]

[laogaiguk]

[agoodmouse]

[ceesgetdegrees]

That's pretty amazing considering i know guys over here teaching at uni's with BA's. What makes Japan so appealing though? money, professional work environment?

[Tjames426]

Working at a Japanese University would look good on the upward mobile resume.

Afterward, it would show up something special and unique when applying for a position in the USA or Canada. It would make you stand out from the other academic heads.

[agoodmouse]

Did any of you ever imagine, or think it reasonable, before you came to Korea that university jobs could be obtained without more credentials than a bachelor's degree? Every single language class I took in university (I've picked up substituting university for college, as I got more and more odd reactions) was taught by a Ph.D. holder or by a Ph.D graduate student. Should master's degrees be a required hoop to jump through to teach at the university level? It seemed so in the U.S. I really don't think you can get a university job in the U.S. without a master's degree. This is my sense of this.

[DrunkenMaster]

**ALSO**

They pay Ph.D. holders more than 2.0-3.0 million won per month

AND

They give them the equal rank of professor, do they not?

[PRagic]

One of the key differences is that Korean universities, even rural ones, generally don't hire ABDs. Some programs in Korea (mostly engineering, economics, and business from what I've seen) have advertised positions for ABDs, but, then again, they are only visitorships, with no pay increases or incentives for future employment.

In a nut shell, Korean institutions tend to be...ok, I'll say it...stuck up. Rather than build a long-term foreign faculty by recruiting and keeping recent grads, they look at short term fixes such as paying top buck for a seasoned scholar to work a semester or two.

The reason many scholars tend to favour Japanese institutions is that they are by-and-large more prepared to take on a foreign scholar; the program is established, the courses to be taught are there, and the administration is prepared to integrate foreign faculty over the long-haul. In my experience, this is not the case at Korean universities.

In this respect, I can understand some of the reservations in Korea toward hiring foreign profs. How can a foreigner contribute to the long term development of a program at a Korean university? How will a foreigner be able to work as a department chair, when many in the administration don't speak English (or the applicable foreign language)? What will happen to departmental 'traditions' when and if a foreigner joins on over the long-term (many things done in departments at Korean universities are considered a waste of time by foreign staff)?

And this is all just the tip of the titanic killer. Trust me, I could go on ....and on...

[PRagic]

DrunkenMaster makes a point. Many of the positions advertised in TESOL in Korea are open appointments that do not offer much if any of an incentive for Ph.D. applicants. They'll take a BA with 3 years of expience, an MA with one year of experience, and...ok...Ph.D.s are encouraged to apply. Give me a break.

This is not always the case. As I've posted before, I have a standard salary and work load on par with the other (Korean) profs where I work.