Korean Job Discussion Forums

[korian]

over on the free rent thread there is a debate on which country in north asia gets most money (when all things are deducted and cost of living is factored in)

having worked in both (now in japan) i have a couple comments. pay in korea doesn't vary too much between hagwon, high school and univ. there are exceptions but generally speaking, they mostly sit between 2-2.5 in all three institutions. conditions in unis are much better but that's not the argument here.

unfortunately, if you land a job in a univ. in korea you're not necessarily going to be getting a bumper jump in pay.

this is not the case in japan. in japan high school salaries are generally much higher than hagwon (eikaiwa) salaries and then univ. salaries are higher still. and you get the same perks in japanese unis. so as you go up the chain you do get rewarded significantly in financial terms.

thus if you compare hagwon - hagwon then korea comes out way on top. but if you compare uni - uni then japan is still the best place in asia by far.

[laogaiguk]

Which pretty much means for practically everyone, Korea is the place to go salary wise.

[korian]

that's not for me to decide. i just wanted to point out that there is a slight misconception that korea is way above japan for saving potential. if comparing hagwon jobs then yes, it definitely is. if comparing uni jobs then absolutely not.

[semphoon]

I met a guy a few days ago who was starting his second period in Korea after 3 years in Fukoka. He was saying that in Fukoka there are so many English teachers that people would place advertisement in phone booths - private English teaching for $15 an hour

A sobering image.

[VanIslander]

and Japanese university positions are notoriously difficult to get these days

need publications in journals or an academic book

or be very lucky

[laogaiguk]

[korian]

agree with you completely on that. it is much more difficult to get a uni job in japan. the job itself isn't much different for the most part, but getting the job is difficult indeed.

in one sense it's good how easy it is to get a uni job in korea, but on the other hand it makes it difficult to move away from that coz most teachers tend not to develop professionally (in my experience in 2 korean unis anyway)

so many get stuck in limbo. great conditions but average pay. but unable to get much better should they leave korea. not meant to be a slight on anyone working at uni in korea, particularly those with graduate degrees.

[rocklee]

University jobs in Japan aren't advertised like the ones in Korea and China.

In fact most good jobs aren't

[korian]

they are advertised if you know where to look. they just aren't advertised on dave's. i think korea is dave's key market followed by china. most other countries are bit players.

[Len8]

What are the perks that university teachers get in Japan that they don't get in Korea. Are the university teachers encouraged to develope professionally in Japan for a higher salary. In Korea we aren't. The salary is the same no matter what your qualifications, or publications. Like you said maybe this is a disincentive to do some professional developmen.

[korian]

well almost every uni job gives you an annual research allowance. you need to use it too coz if you don't it won't be there the following year come budget time.

thus with that budget most teachers will do some research and present at any number of conferences in japan or round asia. as long as you're presenting and sending off papers for publication, your uni is happy.

if you get published, well and good, if not, your uni is still happy you're doing something and spending the money on research. and conferences are great for ideas and networking.

as with most things in japan, it's all for show and a facade but good for the teachers

nothing like that exists at unis in korea (at 95% anyway) unless you're tenured with a PhD but i'm not talking about that level