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Q: Average University pay?
Is 5,000 an average salary with a masters degree outside a major city. What is a good range.
10 years 15 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
thats pretty low. yea, universities tend to pay less, but 5000 seems too far fetched. are you going through a recruiter? i think if its your first teaching gig, at least... at least get 6500 or 7000. with a masters, maybe a bit more. but remember, what universities lack in pay, they more then make up for in hours and vacation time. my particular university gives me about 5 months paid vacation time a year. 3 months for winter holiday and 2 paid for summer. not the mention all the little random chinese holidays in between . what city is it? remember, everything can be negotiated with them. if they only budge a bit on the salary, go for a larger travel allowance or end of the year bonus. food money, taxi money, think outside the box!
I really often wondered why University salaries were so low, they're dreams job in Korea, but here they pay the less.
Don't count Training center salaries into this figure below:
Kindergarten jobs to High school = 10,000 to 18,000
University salaries = 4000 to 7000...
Why, why, whyyyyy, can you tell me why? (sorry I heard this from a song somewhere.)
DrMonkey:
Yup, paid 5000-7000 to teach engineering to students, who will make 10000 while being beginner and far from being as good as the teacher... go figure.
dom87:
most engineer starters make 3000-4000. In china you cant even become an engineer immediately after graduation, first you are assistant engineer
ironman510:
Yeah I've heard that most jobs here in China start you at the position known as an "Intern" for a while with a cheap salary and have to move your way up the ladder slowly.. Where as some of us in our home country get setup with an experienced guy for a few months and get the head position later or having to wait for the position which will come after the 80 year old retires from that position.
5000 is the normal average income for a young lecturer (PhD), outside of Shanghai or Beijing. It includes paid vacations, and usually, on-campus accommodation for free. If you can convince that you are a really good teacher, or that you can publish papers on top-notch journals, you might up that to 7000. This is a base income, you can get additional things like a research fund, if you got the right support, it's fairly easy to get *something*.
So why do people do it???? I completly understand if your here JUST for a year or two, and the long holidays is important to explore China. I get that. But everyone else who has been here a while. 5-6000 is a crazy low number, I couldnt live on that. No chance, So how do people save enough to go travel for 3 months in the summer and another 2 in the winter??
Im imagining people just staying home for alot of that. And then they take privates.... But theres zero chance that the privates equates to more than other jobs.....
I cant wrap my head around it.
DrMonkey:
It depends on how you live. I lived like this for 2 years (5000 CNY months + free accommodation) and I was ok with it. I was saving at least 3000 months. I saved enough to visit my parents once, and to travel in China. I dated my then gf, we would go to cinema, have a drink, go to restaurant, travel, etc
* I used bike only. Healthy, non-polluting, relaxing, and cheap ^^
* I cook at home or eat simple local food. No bars or clubs, don't like anyway
* I did not travel 3 months in a row, more like 2x1 months. One small backpack, guesthouses, it was cheap and fun, if you're into trekking.
* For doing sport, well, I put on my short and my shoes, and I run outside or on a stadium track. I use public stuffs to do exercises. Gym and indoor bikes are for sissies.
For the why... Well, it gives you time to do research without too much 'publish or perish' bullshit. For some researchers, having time and freedom for research is worth more than money. You don't have to do that your whole life, the day you need security and money, you can work in the industry. Some people live like this their whole life and they are mostly fine with it. Great researchers rarely makes millionaires ^^
Paulberger:
i get you. it is low, but its what you do with all your free time. at my university, i work about 16 hours a week. i have 6 private tutors for ielts and tofel for 200-250 hour. they each do 2 hours a week. then on the weekend, we started our own little school for children. got a little class and all. 14 kids, 4 hours a week, 1000/month a pop. it a all adds up. just takes a lot of time and effort to start everything and let it all spread by word of mouth. we never post ads, we only take on kids that have been referred to us by people we know. besides, 5 months vacations is a lot, i wont travel for five months! maybe 2 weeks in the winter, 2 weeks in summer. the rest of the time i tutor. i personally like taking the middle man out of the equation, private schools, because they make a lot of money off foreigners.
mike695ca:
@ Paulberger
I have some doubts about your numbers.... Not the money total but the hours. I can see people paying 200 an hour for privates like you said, but i cant see 14 parents paying 200 an hour for a class of 14. Thats the same price for a private class and way more than a training center makes them pay for a class of 14 kids. So dont get me wrong its possible, but im guessing those 14 kids arents in one class together.... but even if they are thats 32 hours a week, for 23000, probably more hours if I am correct. Which isnt a bad gig. But you can make that working 25 hours in a normal city at a training center. Also, you have been here for a while, and obviously situated well so im not really talking about you. Im talking about the hundreds or thousands of dudes in Uni's around China that couldnt possibly find a situation like yours. Add in the fact that most in China, do need bars.... It just confuses me.
mike695ca:
@ Dr Monkey
Ok thats what I mean, there are definatly people that the Uni situation is perfect for them. People studying and doing research is a good example. But you often see people complaining about Uni pay. Which leads me too believe that theres a huge number of teachers out there bored and poor and unhappy with the situation. I cant understand why anyone of them would do it. These students are the ones that need the english more than the little kids or bored mistresses populating training centers. One would think that Uni teachers would be the most professional and highest paid. Just doesnt work that way and teachers accept the situation and the jobs.
Paulberger:
haha i'm sorry, i should have been more clear. the 14 kids, 1000/pop is montly. about 10 classes total, including books, assignments and what not! i would love if it wasnt that! but yest, we did put them all into one class! it makes it better for us time wise. but believe me, it didn't start like this. it was years to get to this point. as for the ielts students, that is just the standard that a few other foreigners here set. i just followed.
DrMonkey:
Really, for many academics, it can be "hey dude, you are running some rat race. You're happy running, I'm happy running an other race, the researcher's one, the artist's one." With 5000 RMB/months on a 3rd tiers city, it's viable. And it's not a one-way trap either, there are lots of path for a competent scientist.
Paulberger:
also i should add most universites have more hours for their teachers. mine is a small one, that doesn't specialize in english. plus we got an american guy who has a phd in something crazy. he is here writing a research paper on esl or something. he gets a majority of the classes.
I agree that 5k is on the low side, but you should look at the perks as Paulburger pointed out earlier. I think everyone has some different reasons for working here too. I work for 7K/mo on a high school, but everything is included on a 9 hr work week. But this is not my only source of income. Nor do I have children. I think 5k is ok in most of western China where the cost of living is low. I would not try to do this in any Capital city or city on the east coast even if you can live like the locals.
I get 6k in a coastal city...public uni. I save it all, live from a couple of PT jobs...It is possible...and I travel quite a lot. 
In the south, I get 6k for 14hrs/week, no office hours. Its definitely enough to live off (I'm single).
I think you can make a little more than 5000 a month teaching in a university with a master's but maybe not much more. Try for 6000. As for those wondering why you do it for so low, well it certainly isn't for the money. If you really like teaching, are serious about it and want to make some kind of difference here then this is the job you want. Training centers work you to death, students come and go so quickly you hardly get to know them. Stay away from teaching kids full time unless that's just your thing as it will drive you crazy. That leaves high school and university. Never tried high school so can't comment on that but university typically has a pretty nice schedule, you'll get much more respect teaching here, feel sort of like a real teacher and like I said you have a chance to impact a few kids.
