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Q: Money or prestige?
After reading the gloat about the famous local celebrity gf, I was reminded of something...
A colleague of mine works for a famous university in China (top 5) - but her salary sucks (usual 5k/month deal).
I also read a job ad for Beijing Uni (#1) which was also paying something ridiculously low for such a 'famous' university.
I was told that these universities pay so low, because people choose to work there because they're so famous (the university, not the people who work there...).
Now, while I started on a 5K package when I first got here some years back, there's no way I'd go that low for a full-time job now (part-time, maybe).
Would you??
9 years 40 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
depends on additional facilities...
accommodation is provided lunch available..then 5000 is enough to start a job..
consider that after one year you can switch to another place which will happily give you the double salary bcoz of your teaching experience at the "famous" uni...
A university position pays this kind of income, yes. I think prestige is not the reason to hang to those jobs. In "good" universities, you would see that:
* The job is stable, it's hard to be fired
* You get quite a lot of time to do other things once you have your lecture materials ready.
* For Chinese citizen, a university position comes with nice perks, like significant subsidies to buy a flat, better than average school for the kids close from home, nice retirement plan. A foreign colleague try to get some of those perks, but that's not a great success so far.
* Many of my ex-colleagues did work on the side, like consulting, contracting work with companies. It was tripling their income.
* You can get funding for research
Overall, if you are crafty, you get a stable job and nice perks with a good income.
Burak43:
Also, bribes, don't forget the sweet ass bribes you can get as an uni prof in China
umm hell no. I made 7500 plus apartment for my first year in 2007 and i havent made less than double that since. There are no amount of perks that would make up for a normal salary.
People talk about free apartments, but i have yet to see one that isnt ghetto and when u have a normal salary you have your free pick of where and how you live.
People talk about stable jobs, but this site confirms that people in universities get screwed over too. And Robrocks just made a post- hes been working at the same damn kindergaten for 12 years!!!!!! Private sector and as stable as they come, again hes not in a great mood right now but theres gotta be some reason he stayed, and I guarentee he isnt making 5K.
People say they get time to travel, but 1: how much time do you need???? 2: in the private sector you would make three times more and easily be able to take a few weeks off , non holiday time and travel. yup, itll be unpaid, but with a much higher salary youll be able to afford it.
The only other benifit youll recieve is less work hours, now this is just my opinion, but you gotta be some kind of lazy to be happy about working 14 hours a week. It isnt normal in any country or culture and then yes, you DESERVE to get payed 5K and live in a garbage can.
I completly disagree with the prestige premise, as the universities have zero sort of growth program for the English teachers, there is no prestige in teaching english, its not going to help your career when you go back home in any way, and any of the benifits that other teachers get wont apply to you because your a foreigner.
So take the money!
Although some people (rarely) get tired of the large cities and move to some 3rd tier city , they are in the minority. I have seen many people go from making 5K to making 15K , I have yet to see someone willingly go from 15 down to 5. Theres a reason for that.
RiriRiri:
I could accept perks or prestige instead of money. Especially the lattest, because it's good for business.
It's just that in PRC, neither mean anything at all.
mike695ca:
@riri, well thats kind of the point. Everything gets flipped on its head in the prestige vs money argument in a normal country. But here. Better just to collect your money and pay.
Shining_brow:
" there is no prestige in teaching english, its not going to help your career when you go back home in any way,"
Doesn't that depend on your choice of career? If your career is English teaching, then it has to have some weight!
As for the 14 hours per week comment - depends on what you do on the side. If you were working at BeiDa for 14 hours per week, 5000/month, you've got plenty of time to use that position to make a stack more using that position as advertising - to make much much more cash.
expatlife26:
yeah definitely, ive never been over to anyones free apartment that wasnt in a gross walk up and kind of a shithole. It's free...what do you expect? i think they give the legit local professors nice apartments and put the foreigners in the old shitty buildings with the old people and babies that are inexplicably living at a univeristy. I dunno, my gf at the time was just as confused as me as to why they were there. i always figure they tell the foreign staff that "oh this is good for china" and they buy it while the chinese staff would say "fuck that place, id never live there" theres ton of prestige in academia...being a real professor and not a staff lecturer. if youre not publishing papers no one is gonna take you seriously as an academic...though you might like your job anyway
expatlife26:
and yeah seriously if youre semi-retired and you wanna work 14 hrs a week that cool. Or if you have some kind of legit side project. but if youre young and healthy and take pride in how few hours you work thats not a good sign. geez you really need that extra 36 hrs a week to watch tv?
DrMonkey:
At least for science, amen to that. I quintupled my income while having more freedom by switching to private sector. Research in a Chinese academy, you gotta love to do research alone, don't count on students to be helpful. A freeing stay in academia, and he don't get all the perks. After 4 years and one baby, he is still unsure about is future, he is still disposable, despite bring a model by sell account.
mike695ca:
@shining brow. Im not knocking anyone that uses this job as a step in something larger, and if i remember correctly your working on your phd for just that reason, so please dont take what i said as an insult. I hope you do well. But there is no denying many people say the same, and i think we would all agree that very few turn it into a viable career back home. But that is just a generalization , there are of course outliers and people that work harder than the rest. As for the free time. Yes your not a lazy ass if you work 14 hours a week and then use your free time to make mad cash. I get that, but thats kind of agreeing with my whole point. You need to work more hours to make normal money. You cant really claim you work 14 hours a week when really your working another 16 on the side. How is that any different then just a full time job. That was always a wierd argument to me.
expatlife26:
Yeah teaching low hours can be a solid thing to do while putting some sweat equity into another line of work too.
Ive met a couple guys who taught in the background while becoming sales reps and you can make bank if you have a good client base.
ive heard people tell me that if you set up shop in a famous building you can pay less. like if you set up your office in Jin Mao or CITIC you can pay less (at least to the grunts) who will be happy to work in a "famous building"
Ok, part of the reason I ask is that I'm considering doing such a thing. However, I need to put in into perspective...
I'm looking at joining (if they take me) a top 5 uni, while doing my doctorate, and hoping that the 'prestige' can help me get contacts to do the sort of research I need (ie, ppl saying "sure, I'll help", instead of 'No, fuck off.. never heard of you - not interested".) Additional cash ought not to be a great problem...
ScotsAlan:
It's a good plan. Earning money while you study for a PHD has got to be good. Ok, it's not great money, but you get a great qualification.
I always thought your field of research would pretty much dictate what University you go to. At least that's pretty much the case in the UK.
And lets not forget the contacts you could make here. If, for example, your research was about improved manufacturing techniques for specific electronic components..... well.... plenty of people on here know someone who knows someone......you could get a bit of a deal from a private company.
I reckon if you can live on the money, your plan is a good un 
.
Shining_brow:
The uni is actually an Australian one - done online.
The local uni is just for the contacts (I hope).
I wouldn't have thought joining a top 5 uni would help you with getting contacts for research. It's still research and you're still asking people for help, they won't care what uni you're at because they won't benefit from it. It's not like you can give them anything beneficial in return just because they took part in your research and you went to a "famous" uni.
Shining_brow:
Oh, it might not make any difference, but the research is about ESL in China, and I'd be wanting to talk to Chinese private schools... hoping that have the prestigious uni['s name - and that the private school might see it as a nice way to get some prestige itself - will open a door or 2.
I work at a top 10 university, and it has only convinced me that China does not care at all about education. Like everything else in this silly little country, they just want the appearance of education, and my uni doesn't even really have that. Seriously, I was laughing through my first year...my local community college back home could run laps around this place. They don't pay shit, but I am still making more money than I would at a training center. TCs suck up all your time...unis only take a few hours a week. I can make as much money as I want to outside those few hours. And, it does pad the resume for employers who do not know what a joke China and its shit education system are.
I work at a top 10 university, and it has only convinced me that China does not care at all about education. Like everything else in this silly little country, they just want the appearance of education, and my uni doesn't even really have that. Seriously, I was laughing through my first year...my local community college back home could run laps around this place. They don't pay shit, but I am still making more money than I would at a training center. TCs suck up all your time...unis only take a few hours a week. I can make as much money as I want to outside those few hours. And, it does pad the resume for employers who do not know what a joke China and its shit education system are.
