Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ChongDae Foreign Profs]

We are wondering if such changes have been made at other universities around Korea?

Depsite a long history of great conditions things have gone from wonderful to wierd at Chong Ju University's foreign language departments.

The status of foreign professors has been changed from 'full time professor' to 'part-time lecturer' or 'essentially 'temporary worker'. These status changes affect pensions, working conditions, medical insurance etc.. These changes have also been made without our consent or knowledge.

This new status also affects our salary. For example, my salary will be cut by about 3,000,000 annually. Also, they now want to pay us over 13 months instead of 12 and call the 13th month bonus pay. They have already changed some people's pay to 13 months when their contract states that pay will be over 12 months.

I am just wondering if anyone else is having these kinds of problems since these changes have been blamed on the recent Board of Education's decision to audit all universities.

[gajackson1]

i am just hazarding a guess here -

I am guessing it has something to do with the audit, and tenure issues. As 'full-time professors' employed over X number of years, I imagine you would be eligible for tenure, or leave the Uni open to a lawsuit over the issue.

Definitely contact www.efl-law.com to see what their take is on it.

Regards & good luck - I know other Unis are being audited as well; would love to know if anyone else is dealing with stuff like this . . .

Glen

[Ajarn Miguk]

My former university's way of rewarding you and dealing with such a situation was to arbitrarily offer (after five years of continuous contracted employment) to move you to part-time status with the promise of full-time employment one semester later. This resulted in loss of pay and benefits but allowed them not to have to grant you tenure after five years of continuous employment.

I have never heard of a tenured foreign professor at the university.

There are many, many, many tenured Korean professors at universities in the U.S.

Is it just a cultural difference?

[JennyJJ]

Well Ajarn Miguk,

Some time in Thailand you have had? First, you are comparing apples to oranges when you say, "There are many, many, many tenured Korean professors at universities in the U.S."

You are right, but they tend to be professors with Ph.D.s from first rate universities, not people with BA's and a few qualified (there ain't many) MA's - as we have here in Korea.

Don't kid yourself, unless you are truly the exception, very very few native-speaker EFL teachers here would ever even begin to qualify for employment at an American uni, no less ever be granted tenure - which would come only after strong publications based on high-quality research. There is no way to make any comparison.

Many of us know from experience that it is hard to land more than just an adjunct position at a decent university in the USA - especially nowadays. Though some friends recently landed decent full-time positions in the South. They are both MATESOLs.

[Real Reality]

Seoul National University hires its first foreign faculty member
The officials said that the council of deans agreed to appoint Prof. Damien Anthony Mugavin, 55, an Australian native currently teaching at the National University of Singapore, to a position in the Department of Landscape Architecture. Prof. Mugavin will begin teaching next semester, in September.

Education Ministry officials said that despite the law's revision, Korea's national and public universities still recruit few foreign professors.
The ministry statistics released in April last year showed there were only 19 foreign professors, or 0.17 percent, out of 10,929 full-time faculty members at 32 national universities.
It also said that the two public universities, which have a combined total of 471 professors, do not have a single foreign professor.
There are two foreigners out of 1,247 professors at the nation's eight two-year industrial universities, according to statistics.
Ministry officials said Korean professors and university authorities are still reluctant to embrace foreigners as faculty members.
2001.05.29
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2001/05/29/200105290017.asp

The Ministry of Education report said that just 368 of the 21,434
full-time professors at 40 universities are foreign faculty members.

In the case of Seoul National University, there are just three foreigners
among the 1474 full-time professors, all of which are of Korean descent. Yonsei University has a slightly higher count with seven of the 1344 full-time professors being foreigners. But they too are ethnic Koreans with foreign nationalities.

Few foreign faculty members at Korea's universities
by Yoo Soh-jung
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2001/09/27/200109270044.asp

Foreign professors number only a handful compared to the legions of Korean professors at foreign universities, but they 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.
JoongAng Ilbo
http://english.joins.com/article.asp?aid=20020614234922&sid=C00

[Ajarn Miguk]

I am, "truly the exception," JennyJJ. Thank you for pointing out the fallacy to your argument.

Quite perceptive, really.

[waterbaby]

[JennyJJ]

A. Miguk,

Please don't take umbrage - if, in fact, you are one of the exceptions - good for you! You did the work, you carry the weight.

My point was simply to note how many people here want to present themselves as professors - and desire professorial treatment - and compare themselves with well-educated published Ph.d's or Ed.D's in the west. In 95% of the cases, it just aint so. Even an MATESOL isn't going to get tenure in the USA.

I would agree with you then - that if you are qualified and published, then you perhaps should be granted tenure. Here's my best wishes for your promotion. I'll be the first one to toast you at the party.

Now, where was my Penang Gai?

[YiSunSin]

I was told that it is quite difficult to get tenure in Korea without a "donation" to the university of close to 6 figures US dollars. Granted the person wasn't in the language department but had earned a PHD overseas and had the skills and reputation but couldn't afford the donation.

Has anyone else heard anything along these lines?

[Real Reality]

Money key to teaching posts
by Bae Young-dae

An Internet poll of 1,072 people who have applied for teaching posts at Korean universities shows that 79 percent of respondents found the process unfair.

Nearly one in five said colleges refused to offer them a position if they did not make a donation to the school foundation or development fund. Private universities were reportedly more likely to demand money than public colleges.

The majority of the 166 respondents who were asked to make donations said they were pushed to pay from 50 million won ($42,000) to 100 million won. About 40 said that they were asked to pay more than 100 million won; five said the school demanded 200 million won. The poll was made by Kyosu.net, an academic job recruitment Web site.

More than 100 of the respondents said school officials demanded outright bribes from them. Thirty-three heads of private university foundations, 28 private school professors and 11 presidents of private universities allegedly demanded payment.

Nearly 8 out of 10 respondents said the recruitment process was meaningless because many of the colleges had already decided who they would hire. Almost two-thirds said the recruitment process centered on regional or school connections. More than half asked why most colleges do not release the results of recruitment tests. Almost 40 percent said discrimination based on gender, age, religion and the country where an applicant completed his academic degree was prevalent.
JoongAng Ilbo
July 9, 2002
http://english.joins.com/Article.asp?aid=20020709005425&sid=300